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Plastic (2014 film)

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Plastic
DVD cover
Directed byJulian Gilbey
Written byChris Howard
Julian Gilbey
Will Gilbey
Produced bySandro Forte
Chris Howard
Daniel Toland
Terry Stone
StarringEd Speleers
Alfie Allen
Will Poulter
Sebastian de Souza
Emma Rigby
Mem Ferda
Graham McTavish
Thomas Kretschmann
Narrated byBamishe
CinematographyPeter Wignall
Edited byJulian Gilbey
Will Gilbey
Music byChad Hobson
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Cinema Management Group (International Sales Agent)
Release date
  • 2 May 2014 (2014-05-02) (United Kingdom)
Running time
102 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget£4,303,000
Box office£7,000,000

Plastic is a British-American action comedy-crime film directed by Julian Gilbey and co-written by Will Gilbey and Chris Howard. The film stars Ed Speleers, Will Poulter, Alfie Allen, Sebastian de Souza and Emma Rigby. The film is purported to be based on a true story about con-artist Saq Mumtaz.[1][2]

Plot

A group of British university students are running a successful credit card scam. They make a powerful enemy by stealing his briefcase and are forced to enlist the help of Frankie, who works for a credit card company. The group of five then go to try and rack up two million pounds to pay off their debt but fall short during a night of strippers and champagne. To make up for the money they still need, they plan a diamond heist, which goes abysmally wrong.[citation needed]

Cast

Production

On 6 December 2012, Ed Speleers, Will Poulter and Alfie Allen were announced to star in the film, with Julian Gilbey set to direct and Chris Howard, Julian Gilbey and Will Gilbey set to write the film.[3] International distribution rights are being licensed by Cinema Management Group.[4]

Filming

On 10 December 2012, Gateway Films announced the start of principal photography of the film which was filmed in Brunei, London, Manchester and Miami.[5]

Release

The film was released in the UK on 2 May 2014,[6] and later released in the US on 26 September 2014.[7]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 17% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 3.33/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Far-fetched, frantically overstuffed, and unfunny, Plastic seems to use its title as a goal as much as a description."[8] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 32 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[9]

Guy Lodge of Variety said "The title says it all in this cheap, laborious junior heist thriller from British B-movie journeyman Julian Gilbey".[10] Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent "A nasty streak of casual sexism runs through an already unpleasant and absurdly far-fetched film".[11] Stephen Dalton of The Hollywood Reporter said "All champagne and strippers, conspicuous consumption and witless machismo, Plastic is a contemporary British heist movie that already feels dated, as if it were made before the bubble burst on Guy Ritchie's comic book gangster voyeurism".[12]

There were, however, some positive reviews. Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times stated that "As mindless entertainment goes, it's a pretty watchable time-passer.",[13] and Ben Kenigsberg of The New York Times said "It's hard to escape the sense that 'Plastic' is itself a cheap knockoff, but the point is not to look too closely".[14]

In an interview with The Guardian whilst promoting his film, The Maze Runner, actor Will Poulter expressed his disdain for starring in the film, describing the film as "bad" and saying "It’s really tough, man. Because it’s shaming. And the worst thing is thinking someone will think you did it for dishonourable reasons. I’m not shifting the blame. I recognise my responsibility to that film. But I’ve tried to shake it off since.” He closed out his interview by saying "I’ve got the one film that I regret out of my way. And I don’t intend to make another one."[15]

References

  1. ^ "Meet Saq Mumtaz, the man who almost got away with £2m of diamonds". 9 September 2014.
  2. ^ "Fake prince stole gems worth pounds 2m". 30 April 1999.
  3. ^ "Speleers, Poulter and Allen to star in Plastic". screendaily.com. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  4. ^ Roxborough, Scott (9 November 2013). "AFM: Russian, Middle East Hot for 'Plastic'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
  5. ^ "Filming Begins On Plastic". femalefirst.co.uk. 10 December 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  6. ^ "Plastic". Cineworld Cinemas. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  7. ^ LLoyd, Kenji (13 August 2014). "Plastic US release date teaser poster". Finalreel. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  8. ^ "Plastic (2014)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 7 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ "Plastic Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ Lodge, Guy (27 September 2014). "Film Review: 'Plastic'". Variety. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  11. ^ Macnab, Geoffrey (2 May 2014). "Plastic, film review: Nasty streak of casual sexism runs through absurdly far-fetched film". The Independent. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  12. ^ Dalton, Stephen (30 April 2014). "Plastic: Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  13. ^ Goldstein, Gary (25 September 2014). "Review 'Plastic' a slick, 'Ocean's Eleven'-type crime caper". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  14. ^ Kenigsberg, Ben (25 September 2014). "But Hacking Credit Cards Seemed Like Such a Good Idea". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  15. ^ Lamont, Tom (5 October 2013). "Will Poulter: 'Hanging out in Soho House LA, that's my worst nightmare'". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
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