FLYPAPER

US, 2011, 87 minutes, Colour.
Patrick Dempsey, Ashley Judd, Tim Blake Nelson, Mekhi Phifer, Matt Ryan, Jeffrey Tambor, John Ventimiglia, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Curtis Armstrong, Ron Huebel, Octavia Spencer.
Directed by Rob Minkoff.

This is a heist movie, well two heists, well three in fact – and all at the same time.

Actually, the premiss is rather absurd – and so is the treatment, played for laughs and disbelief. And the flypaper of the title – that is just the money in the bank which attracts thieves like flies to flypaper.

The first group of thieves wants to be the real thing, masks, guns, blasting... The second group of thieves has to be seen and heard to be believed. Tim Blake Nelson and Pruitt Taylor Vince are a couple of good ole boys, dumb as they come, who have idealised bank robbers and plan to set themselves up for the pantheon of robbers. They get in the way, say the stupidest things (with that southern drawl) and behave oddly and badly.

Speaking of behaving oddly, Patrick Dempsey is an eccentric genius who needs his medication regularly and, during the burglary, doesn’t get his pills. This means that he is the one to outwit the robbers as well as solve the mystery of the third attempt, by a mastermind criminal to put in danger the lives of the robbers (he sent them invitations), his security guard (who has done time), his Swiss bank connection and his teller staff (Ashley Judd and Octavia Spencer before we all noticed her in Help and she won awards). Jeffrey Tambor is the bank manager.

If that sounds appealing, go for it. If it doesn’t (and this review has tried to communicate the feel and moods of the film – and the absurdity of the plot), then stay away. Director Rob Minkoff made The Lion King and Stuart Little! Advertised as ‘from the writers of The Hangover’ – they must have been on one when they wrote this one.

1. The impact of the film as comedy, comedy of the absurd?

2. The action in the interior of the bank, the layout of the bank, the dramatic score?

3. The title, money and thieves – drawn to flypaper?

4. The two groups arriving, the plan for the robbery, the letters from the villain, confronting each other, the decision to collaborate?

5. The serious group, the Englishman Gates, Darrien, Weinstein? The masks, their ambitions, the threatening of the staff? Their interactions amongst themselves? Their characters, the explosions – and their deaths?

6. The contrast with Billy Ray and Wyatt Jenkins? Peanut Butter and Jelly? As characters, their accents, their motivations, their wisecracks, dumb, creating a mess, understanding the situation, their reactions?

7. Tripp, in the bank, his flirting with Kaitlin? The decision to take the money in coins? His arithmetic? Age, character, the reaction to the robbery? His need for medication? His interventions, clever? Kaitlin and the kiss? The revelation of the plot, his arguments? Under suspicion? Going to Kaitlin – the exit from the bank, the car, exposing her and her robbery?

8. Kaitlin, Madge? Their work as tellers? The reaction to Tripp? The robbery, their reactions? Kaitlin and her wedding gifts, the talk of the wedding? The dangers? Kaitlin and her collaborating with Tripp?

9. The Swiss bank girl, her presence in the bank, part of the plot, her death?

10. The security guard, his background in jail, flirtatious?

11. The bank manager, his control – and finally being unmasked as the villain?

12. The theory about the robbery, the mastermind criminal, his plan?

13. Tricking the bank manager, the night glasses, being exposed?

14. The resolution, the police, carrying out Kaitlin’s gifts, Tripp and the revelation of her robbery? The kiss?

15. The combination of the absurd, the comic, the amoral?