Review: 4.3.2.1

4 girls. 3 days. 2 cities. 1 chance. Now that's a cheesy tagline if ever I saw one. However, this film turned out to be anything but cheesy. I'll admit it's not your typical girls-night-in movie, but then we're not your typical girls - plus, it was all we had.

Anyway, the plot essentially focuses around these four very different friends, and the three days each of them experiences (or 'endures' might be more accurate) in London (or, briefly, New York). Angsty One's mother is leaving, Rich One is going to meet an internet boyfriend from New York to lose her virginity (obviously going to end well...), 'Ard One is 'borrowing' Rich One's flat and humiliating her even 'arder brother, and American One is working in a supermarket that's about to get robbed. As each of their horrendous weekend's unfold, they are shown to be accidentally getting caught up in a diamond heist orchestrated by chavs (yeah. That's what I thought) and a briefly seen but glamorous woman.

So the plot was interesting. What was even more interesting was the way the story was told; instead of flicking from one girl to another chronologically, each character was dealt with individually, meaning it felt a bit like watching four mini-films as opposed to one big film. I actually found this really interesting; I love those stories that are like jigsaws, slowly slotting in piece after piece, but it's not until the end that you see the big picture. Whenever one of the girls phones another, you only hear their end of the conversation, until you switch to the next POV, when you hear what else was being said. This style was very clever and not something I think I've seen before.

That said, there were several things that annoyed me. First and foremost, every one of those girls was naked or half-naked far more than was necessary (who answers the door starkers?), which served no purpose other than to appeal to horny teenage boys. Since I am not one of those, I didn't particularly appreciate it. Also, I felt the ending didn't pack the same punch as the rest of the film, and could have done with a bit more explaining and a bit less cliche dialogue. There were also many moments of what can only be called 'WTF?' when one of the characters abandoned realism entirely and did something mind-numbingly stupid in the name of plot progression.

But that said, I did enjoy this film considerably more than I was expecting to, and I think you would too (ESPECIALLY if you're a teenage boy...)

Basic summary: interestingly-made crime thriller with plenty of eye candy for boys and a clever plot, despite one or two howler moments.

Rating: * * * (good)