Film Review: The Business

"sun, sea and criminals... welcome back to the '80s"


The Business (18)
Dir. Nick Love

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Brit gangster films about cheeky Chav crims have been out of style for a couple of years but as a tasty warm up to Guy Ritchie’s Revolver in a couple of weeks here comes The Business. Director Nick ‘The Football Factory’ Love invites you back to the ‘80s where on the Costa del Crime the weather was hot, the clothes were awful and the music off the scale…
But all you need to know is that The Business really is ‘the business’ – you get me? If you want sun, sea and drug busting violence, laced with some wicked humour, then you’ve come to the right place. This is the tale of young Frankie (Danny Dyer) who escapes Thatcher’s grim London and gets swept up in the criminal high life in Spain – when just about every crook was hiding out there thanks to a handy break in extradition laws at that time.
So good-hearted but amoral Frankie is taken under the wing of charismatic bar owner Charlie (a top turn by Tamer Hassan), who is more tanned than David Dickinson. In return for helping out in the drug operation Frankie gets to drive the Merc, wear the Fila and flirt with Carly the hot girlfriend of Charlie’s psycho ‘business’ partner Sammy (Geoff Bell). Needless to say that it all ends in tears – largely due to the fact that Sammy likes to shoot people for fun and let’s just say that he doesn’t appreciate his girlfriend’s obvious eye for Frankie… In fact Carly (a sizzling Georgina Chapman) embodies many of women the ‘80s – all big hair, garish make up, shiny dresses and a penchant for Bollinger.
As long as you can handle the constant F’ing and Blinding script, there is much to enjoy in The Business. One classic scene sees the lead characters taking it in turn to shoot each other whilst ‘trying out’ their new bulletproof vests.
But will Frankie live to tell the tale or is he too far out of his depth? The Business crackles with manic energy and mixes what could have been fairly standard action, tension and comedy into something a little bit special. And if somehow the music of the ’80s passed you by, The Business has a blinding soundtrack of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Buggles, Duran Duran… even a personal favourite ‘I Travel’ by Simple Minds, you could go see this just for a classy musical history lesson…


Darkmatt Rating: öööö (Sorted)

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