Eye For Film >> Movies >> Circus (1999) Film Review
Circus
Reviewed by: Angus Wolfe Murray
Even the good guys are horrible. Except there are no good guys. The plot is one of those now-you-see-it-now-you-don't magic tricks.
John Hannah is married to Famke Janssen, who used to be the partner of a Texan bank robber (Fred Ward). Peter Stormare is the new accountant for gang boss Brian Conley, because the old one was caught with his fingers in the till and subsequently iced.
Hannah has the skills of an itinerant con artist. Conley trusts no-one and still gets shafted. Janssen has a dodgy past and a doubtful future. Stormare must look back at Fargo and think, "At least, you knew where you were with those fools."
To call this Brit flick too clever by half, flatters it. Everyone is double-crossing everyone else until you are too confused to wonder why, or care less.
Hannah does not have the build for an action hero. Stormare's attempt at a grand guignol performance is stymied by a painful script. In another life, Conley is a comic on TV. You wouldn't believe it, watching him here.
Nastiness is contagious. You come out of the cinema feeling worse than when you went in.
Reviewed on: 19 Jan 2001