- Director:
Malcolm Mowbray - AMG Rating:
- Genre: Comedy Drama
- Movie Type: Romantic Comedy, Romantic Drama
- Themes: Out For Revenge, Suicide
- Main Cast: Sam Neill, Helena Bonham Carter, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rupert Graves, Martin Clunes
- Release Year: 1998
- Country: FR/UK
- Run Time: 82 minutes
Plot
Telecast on American cable television as Sweet Revenge, this wickedly black comedy was produced for British TV under the title The Revengers' Comedies, which was also the name of the Alan Ayckbourn play collection upon which it was based. Late one night on London Bridge, two potential suicides meet. Henry Bell (Sam Neill) is a midlevel executive who has been unfairly fired by his office rival; Karen Knightly (Helena Bonham Carter) is a nutty heiress whose boyfriend has jilted her in favor of a bitchy American beauty. Forsaking their plans to kill themselves, Henry and Karen go the Strangers on a Train route by agreeing to "swap" revenges: Karen will dispose of Henry's enemy, Bruce Tick (Steve Coogan), while Henry will destroy Karen's bête noire, Imogen Saxton-Billing (Kristin Scott Thomas). A U.S./U.K./French co-production, Sweet Revenge made its official debut over America's Showtime network on September 24, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideReview
This dark fantasy of manners refuses to conceal its origins as a play called The Revengers' Comedy by the well-regarded playwright Alan Ayckbourn. The acting is suitably arch and the dialogue has the off-kilter zing of lines that don't acknowledge reality, a trait more indigenous to the theater and rarely seen these days in cinema. It works, at least on a superficial level, but it leaves the black comedy more a shade of gray. The plot is a zany twist on Strangers on a Train -- though not as nutty as Billy Crystal's take, Throw Momma from the Train -- and it alternates from comedy to tragedy a bit too fluidly to make much of an impression as either. The quartet that forms the core of the cast -- Sam Neill, Helena Bonham Carter, Kristen Scott Thomas, and Steve Coogan -- is supplemented by two scene-stealing performances that make the film negligibly worthwhile: Rupert Graves as an adrenaline-fueled brother and Liz Smith as a cagey, know-it-all servant. Don't expect too much and Revenge is yours.~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
Cast
- Sam Neill - Henry Bell
- Helena Bonham Carter - Karen Knightly
- Kristin Scott Thomas - Imogen Saxton-Billing
- Rupert Graves - Oliver Knightly
Martin Clunes - Anthony Saxton-Billing
