A Review of 'Con Job': An uproarious blood-shedding comedy about a scheme gone wrong
Two men collude to steal a third party of valuable ancestral property but surprising events threaten to smother their plan.
'Con Job': An uproarious blood-shedding comedy about a scheme going wrong
Cast: Dean Edwards, T.L. Flint, Aaron Berg, Ian Niles, Julia Claire Schweitzer, Mila Besson, Menuhin Hart, Canning Robb, Crystal Ward
Critic’s Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
Director: Ian Niles
Duration: 1 hour, 32 minutes
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Action, Thriller
Language: English
Release: 2024
What’s it about?
Two men collude to steal a third party of valuable ancestral property but surprising events threaten to smother their plan.
Review:
Con Job is a profane and bloody crime comedy that thanks to its quirky characters and unpredictable plot, is simply irresistible. Here is one of the most off-the-wall caper films in recent memory which is guaranteed to evoke chuckles and gasps with its every twist and turn. Avarice and collusion are the central themes of this original little flick which churns out a generous amount of black humour while keeping the audience on edge. With healthy doses of drama and suspense thrown in, one is left guessing who is playing whom and whether the antagonist duo will eventually acquire the wealth that they are after. Idiosyncratic touches to the narrative, references to crime film classics and ill-fitting music only enhance the film’s bizarre veneer.
Tim (Dean Edwards) arrives from Thailand at his old friend Chris’ house for what he thinks is to be the latter’s wedding. However, it turns out that Tim’s estranged brother Angus (Menuhin Hart) and Chris (Ian Niles) are using the fabricated happy occasion to intoxicate and trick him into signing a lucrative property deal. To this end, the two conspirators rope in crooked notary Jordan (Aaron Berg) - a fitness freak who has a huge appetite for health supplements with risky side-effects. However, Angus and Chris’ plan starts to go awry when Jordan winds up dead in the bathroom and they are unable to manipulate Tim into signing the document.
The turn of events cause Chris and Angus to keep revising their original plan. By keeping Tim out of the picture, the conniving pair decides to task an elderly friend of Chris’ late grandmother to perform the notary work while attempting to pass off Chris’ dim-witted friend Jeff (T.L. Flint) as Tim. But the trio soon realise that the old Mrs. Monroe isn’t the pushover they expected her to be. What follows are strained exchanges, Mexican stand-offs, gunfire and bloodshed. With other parties suspecting foul play and a mounting body count, will Chris and Angus be able to clean up crime scenes and cover their tracks? And will Tim survive the ordeal in order to call their bluff?
Yes, there is so much appealing substance to this plot that it compensates for its occasional implausibilities. These include a weird and mysterious denouement which is nevertheless capped by a catchy tune and lyrics. There are even a juicy couple of detours earlier in the film. These involve a scheming and spiteful food delivery woman (Julia Claire Schweitzer) and her firm’s unhinged customer service representative (Canning Robb). What’s more, movie buffs are sure to detect references to such Hollywood classics as The Godfather (1972) and Citizen Kane (1941) as well as the more recent thriller Taken (2008).
Director and co-writer Ian Niles does well with this potent attempt at marrying the genres of action, thriller and comedy. Along with his screenwriting collaborator Guy Harry, Niles has evidently put much thought and effort into fleshing out his zany characters and conjuring up a slew of tense situations. While all the actors deserve credit for translating their parts effectively to screen, Berg and Flint easily steal the scenes that they are in. Heightened emotion often takes centre stage although the deluge of verbal obscenity sometimes gets more tedious than funny. Still, the viewer would think they have taken one of Jordan’s special pills while getting aboard this rollercoaster of a crime flick. Even the sternest of film critics is sure to be hoodwinked by this disarming con job.
