Precious is a new-style weepie but one that is much more bracing than depressing
Precious
Theatre
Ian McKellen is captivating throughout. He delights in the play’s gallows humour, yet is also maudlin and poignant
Waiting for Godot
Theatre
Slight quibbles notwithstanding, this will set the West End’s stock riding high
Enron
Utterly, utterly brilliant. You really are in for a treat
Though 'Trilogy' has won rave reviews, I personally found myself exasperated after about an hour
We went on a quiet sunday evening and the food was excellent, but the experience let down by the service and ambiance
London,
Derek Malcolm's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Steven Soderbergh.
Cast: Clancy Brown, Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Patton Oswalt, Frank Welker, Melanie Lynskey, Joel McHale
Description: In the early 1990s, family man Mark Whitacre decides to blow the whistle on a global price-fixing scam in the agricultural industry by turning informant for the FBI. By agreeing to wear a wire to various meetings, Whitacre provides the authorities with that essential link to the boardrooms of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). FBI agents are delighted but there is something that their star witness has kept from them.
Country: US. 2009. 108mins
Undercover brothers: Scott Bakula and Matt Damon
Steven Soderbergh's ironic, beautifully acted comedy is based on the story of one of the highest-ranking whistleblowers in American corporate history.
He was Mark Whitacre, an executive who exposed his agri-industry company's multinational price-fixing conspiracy but was foolishly convinced that this would somehow get him a promotion.
This flawed hero, played by Matt Damon, agreed to wear an FBI wire, thinking of himself as a fully-fledged secret agent. His own greed and his over-active imagination didn't help the authorities, however.
The film, which has a jaunty score by Marvin Hamlisch and a tone of comic irony that seldom flags, is expertly cast.
Damon makes his character ridiculous in a very convincing way while never for a moment overplaying.
Scott Bakula and Joel McHale are excellent as the flustered FBI agents, and comedians Tom Papa, Tom Wilson, Rick Overton and the Smothers Brothers add to the sense of reality.
The result is commendably original - and suggests convincingly that "everyone in this country is a victim of corporate crime by the time they finish breakfast".
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Morning:
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