High Heels and Low Lifes (2001)

A nurse eavesdrops with a friend on a cell phone conversation that describes a bank heist. She and the friend then conspire to blackmail the robbers for $2 million.

Director:

Mel Smith

Writers:

Kim Fuller (story), Georgia Pritchett (story)

Stars:

Kevin McNally, Minnie Driver, Mary McCormack

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Minnie Driver	...	Shannon
Mary McCormack	...	Frances
Kevin McNally	...	Mason
Mark Williams	...	Tremaine
Danny Dyer	...	Danny
Michael Gambon	...	Kerrigan
Darren Boyd	...	Ray
Simon Scardifield	...	Tony
Len Collin	...	Barry
Jane Partridge	...	Receptionist
Jason Griffiths	...	Paramedic
Ranjit Krishnamma	...	Doctor
Mark Meadows	...	Romantic actor
Ben Walden	...	Bloodied actor
Michael Attwell	...	Duty Sergeant (as Mike Attwell)

Storyline

Two best girlfriends living in London suddenly find themselves battling wits with seasoned criminals when they decide to blackmail the culprits of a bank heist in their neighborhood rather than reporting the crime to the police. Refusing to be played by this new competition and give up the demanded $2 million, the leaders of the gang of robbers (Kevin McNally and Michael Gambon) decide to start playing dirty tricks, threaten violence and counterfeit money in an effort to throw the two women (played by Minnie Driver and Mary McCormack) off course. When the blackmail and counter attacks hurt an innocent bystander, the kooky best friends must use their friendship to empower each other to lure the hardened criminals into a risky trap.

---

Plot Keywords:

blackmail | nurse | satire | diver's watch | attempted murder | 

---

Taglines:

Crime has never been so attractive

---

Genres:

Action | Drama | Comedy

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some violence and nudity

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 October 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Verbrechen verführt

Filming Locations:

Ealing Studios, Ealing, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£454,989 (United Kingdom), 22 July 2001, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$113,512, 28 October 2001, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$226,792, 11 November 2001

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fragile Films,High Heels Productions Limited,Touchstone Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mel Smith: Pushing past Mason at the train station whilst he is trying to explain to the ticket collector why he has not got a ticket.

---

Goofs

When Frances leaves Danny's flat, she closes the door. But when Danny returns, it's wide open.

---

Quotes

Shannon: Wait. I just thought of something.
Frances: What?
Shannon: You're a woman.
Frances: ...Yeah.
Shannon: Guys like that won't take orders from women. They just pulled off a multi-million pound bank robbery and some woman rings them up asking for 300,000 pounds? I don't think they're gonna take you seriously.
Frances: It's the 21st century. Women are doing every kind of job. We can do extortion.
Shannon: What are you trying to do? Raise their consciousness or get the money?
Frances: Ideally, both.

---

Crazy Credits

The producer would like to thank ... The Residents of Lower Kingswood (All that gunfire) ...

---

Connections

References Charlie's Angels (1976)

---

Soundtracks

We Come One
Written by Roland 'Rollo' Armstrong (as Rollo Armstrong), Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz
Performed by Faithless

User Reviews

Starsky and Hutch Meets AbFab

High Heels and Low Lifes

The trailer tells us this is the next ‘Thelma and Louise,' but this wild and spicy flick is more like Starsky and Hutch meets Absolutely Fabulous. Brought to us by the veddy British, Fragile Films, the same people that brought us Spice World and is currently between two Wilde takes; 99's ‘Ideal Husband' and next year's ‘Importance of Being Ernest.' Girls just want to have fun.

The overall theme is that old-time-Hitchcock-religion where Joe Everyman becomes unwittingly entangled into crime and intrigue. The stars are Minnie Driver and Mary McCormack as a nurse and thespian respectively. These are the two Joanne Everybodies with a UK twist of sophisticated slapstick like Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau.

These women are presented as smart, strong and beautiful. Yay. And all the guys are either corrupt or useless. Just like real life. Min has a dumb boyfriend who's electronic eavesdropping picks up a cell phone mid-bank heist. Mary, the actress, fresh from a looping session with an animated tomato, sees the overheard phone conversation as an economic opportunity to squeeze the bad guys. `They'll never listen to a woman,' insists Driver. Mary says, ‘This is the twenty-first century and we do all jobs now.' Minnie crosses with `Do you want to extort money or raise consciousness?' Mary's answer, `Both!'

The rehearsals for the blackmail phone calls to the bad guys are a hoot. The writing comes from two comedy vets from the BBC, Km Fuller who cut his teeth on ‘Red Dwarf' and Georgia Pritchett from the sassy ‘Smack The Pony' and nicely directed by Mel Smith who did ‘Mr. Bean.'

Highlights include a very nice travelling matte midsection when both sides rally to battle reminiscent of the opening title sequence to Knots Landing and a smashing performance from Sir Michael Gambon, the great character actor which is another word for interesting.