Bodywork (1998)

body pile up

first of all this is a comedy,an english humoured one.The film is not sopposed to be totaly based in reality .All the characters are zany and mostly over the top.The film goes like this.The main character Vigil Guppy buys a car, 4 milse down the road it bonks out and he wants his money back..He's a nice guy with a bad friend who wants to frame him for murder and does.Everyone including his girlfriend seems to give incriminating evidence against him but it's all out of contex.Poor virgill feeling he has nothing left to lose gives his money and credit cards to a bum on the street and then gets hit by a woman driving a stolen car.That incident was actualy a stroke of luck as it leads him down the road of finding out who the real kiler is.Unfortunatly for Virgil more bodies pile up along the way,plus he's got an inspector with a good nose and a rookie sidekick who's waiting for the chance to fire his weapon,like he tained for.Add in some other quircky characters and it makes for a funny movie.If you like funny imperfect comedies with a bit of a who-done it then you'll like this movie.I don't know who is on the cover of the dvd either ,so there you go. January 17, 2008

A waste of time

This movie was so bad that I just wanted it to end. No scenes were particularly exciting, many were useless and all of them were boring. After a while I just thought "so what?" and didn't care what the characters did as long as it would just end. If Godzilla had jumped out of the sea at the end and swallowed everyone for a surprise abstract ending, it would have had at least had one good scene in it. April 12, 2007

Um...there's really not too much auto theft in this movie.

What we have here is yet another undercooked look at criminals in the UK. There is plenty of killing but, hey, it's all okay because just about everyone with a gun is really a good person with a nifty sense of humor. I was especially appalled by the gratuitous murder of a carefree young Buddhist woman. Real nice.

Hans Matheson plays our hero Virgil Guppy. He's pretty bland in the role and his transformation into a confident and cunning crook didn't convince me for a moment. Anyway, the story goes something like this. Virgil buys a Jaguar from a used car dealer. The car breaks down after only 4 miles and he wants his money back. The guy who owns the dealership actually obtains his cars from an auto theft ring and he doesn't like people trying to tell him what to do.

Next thing you know, our hero has been framed for the murder of a prostitute and he now needs to find out who the real killer is before he's locked away. Virgil ends up getting hit by a car which is driven by Tiffany, played by the marvelous Charlotte Coleman. Surprise of surprises, she steals cars for a living and often deals with the guy who owns the aforementioned dealership. Well, that guy is soon murdered and the bodies keep piling up.

I guess if you're into the whole humorous British petty (or not so petty) criminal genre then you won't be offended by anything you see here. It's all rather tame and except for the Buddhist's murder there is nothing shocking. The humor is, of course, quite dry and draws the occasional laugh. Charlotte Coleman is the stand out performance here. She is at once strong, charming, determined, touching and beautiful. Her character is the only one the viewer actually cares about and she showed what a stunning actress she truly was.

When the true murderer is revealed, it is disappointing to say the least when their motive is given. "Because I can." That should give you an idea of just how much thought went into this screenplay. I was mildly entertained but nothing more.

One final note...if you're wondering who those people are on the cover of the DVD, I have no idea! They sure aren't in this film. The tagline is deceptive because this movie is about someone framed for murder and car theft plays only a minor part. The cover also tries to make the film look sexy but the only nudity you'll find is about two seconds of an unknown guy's butt. Don't you just love deceiving advertising? Me too. October 17, 2004

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