Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000)

Director:

Thaddeus O'Sullivan

Writer:

Gerard Stembridge (writer)

Release Date:

7 January 2000 (Ireland)

Genre:

Crime | Comedy

Tagline:

Michael just loves taking the law into his own hands!

Plot:

Michael Lynch is Dublin's most notorious criminal, his brazen robberies making him the bane of the Gardaí...

Plot Keywords:

Caravaggio | Art Theft | Irish | Gangster | Faking Own Death

Cast

Kevin Spacey	...	Michael Lynch
Linda Fiorentino	...	Christine Lynch
Peter Mullan	...	Stevie
Stephen Dillane	...	Noel Quigley
Helen Baxendale	...	Lisa
David Hayman	...	Tony Brady
Patrick Malahide	...	Commissioner Daly
Gerard McSorley	...	Harrison
David Kelly	...	Fr. Grogan
Gary Lydon	...	Tom Rooney
Paul Ronan	...	Billy Lynch
Colin Farrell	...	Alec (as Colin Farrel)
Vincent Regan	...	Shay Kirby
Tim Loane	...	Jerome Higgins
Christoph Waltz	...	Peter

Also Known As:

Ein ganz gewöhnlicher Dieb (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some violence and sexuality.

Runtime:

93 min | Germany:85 min (TV version)

Country:

UK | Germany | Ireland | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-15 | France:U | Germany:16 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R13 | Spain:7 | UK:15 | USA:R | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Company:

Bórd Scannán na hÉireann

Trivia:

As Michael is running out of the museum, stealing the painting of Judas kissing Jesus, the exhibition sign he passes reads "The Taking of Christ".

Goofs:

Anachronisms: This movie was set around 1991-3. However, visible in a number of places are both Fiat Punto cars and CitySwift buses. These were not introduced until 1994 and 1995 respectively. In the bank raid scene, the notes which are stolen are Series III Irish banknotes. These notes were not fully introduced until 1996, and the £20 notes shown in the raid were not even partially introduced at the time the movie was set

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Veronica Guerin (2003)

Soundtrack:

Fire In My Heart

Is this a remake of 'The General' or what?

It's hard to make a bad guy/gangster type of movie these days without resorting to the cliches that have been portrayed countless times in the past.

Ordinary Decent Criminal unfortunately does fall into the trap of using these readily identifiable traits to try and warm the audience to what is really quite an uneven and directionless movie. Here are some of the cliches that the film employs:

1. Likeable rogue criminal doing jobs not because he has to but because he enjoys it 2. Criminals doing jobs with brazen cheek, right under the noses of the local police 3. Boss man trying to help out one of his team who has got involved with the IRA 4. Rogue who plays up to the media - and even wears a mask to hide his identity 5. Ordinary Irish familiy being evicted from supposed 'tenament slums' - but standing fast against the eviction.

And that's just for starters.

Ordinary Decent Criminal is the story of Michael Lynch (Kevin Spacey) and his gang of likeable criminals. Well respected and liked in his local community, he nonetheless is responsible for a series of high profile robberies, well staged in their execution, leaving the local police with plenty of suspicions, but no evidence.

And that's pretty much all the film is about. Lynch and his cronies doing various robberies, baffling police and having a lot of fun into the bargain.

The performances on the whole are adequate, but I can't escape the nagging feeling that Spacey was miscast. He is incongrous with his Irish accent, which no amount of cheeky smiles and dramatic flourishes can hide. His two "wives" played by Linda Fiorentino (Being John Malkovich) and Helen Baxendale (from the TV series Cold Feet) are OK, but Baxendale is barely used; it is Fiorentino who bears the brunt of the "wife of a criminal' dialogue.

And are we meant to like Spacey? At times the movie gives the distinct impression we are not. The interrogation scene involving fingres and a car suspended up high do not make one feel compassionate about his character. But other scenes in the film are meant to make you feel that the Spacey character is one which you should feel sorry for. A bit of direction in this area would have tidied up what is already a muddled film.

The soundtrack is quite good, a thumping but well thought out work that compliments the action well.

Special mention must go to Peter Mullan (My Name is Joe), who is the standout amongst the supporting cast.

My overall feeling is that Ordinary Decent Criminal is just on the downside of being a good movie, but certainly well upwind of being awful.

7 out of 10.