Fakers (2004)

I have a certain affection for indie films. Occasionally you'll find a diamond amongst the rough, and I was hoping to find something similar in FAKERS. Although I didn't find a gem, there were some shining moments that made it worthwhile.Matthew Rhys plays down-on-his-luck Nick Edwards, a man with a cash-flow problem. He needs $50,000 to pay off a debt he owes to a rather dubious London gangster boss played by Art Malik (the terrorist from TRUE LIES). Nick's time on Earth appears to be drawing to a close, as he sees no way to make that amount of money in the necessary time-frame (one week). But then he stumbles across a sketch by a famous early 20th century artist and his mind begins to work through his problems. Not worth enough to cover his debt, he devises a scheme to make multiple copies of the sketch and sell it to several local galleries on the same day.Kate Ashfield (SHAUN OF THE DEAD) plays love interest Eve Evans, a hardworking bartender who's love of money may overshadow her affections for Nick. She decides to help Nick with his problem ...but only if she can benefit, too.Tom Chambers plays Eve's brother, Tony, the sketch artist who will make the forgeries. An introspective and talented artist in his own right, he eventually learns how gifted he truly is as the film comes to its climax.The acting was great. This was the shining portion of what could have been a rare gem. All of the characters were quirky, misguided, and fun to watch. The dialogue was equally entertaining as we watch Nick verbally joust with the London boss ("I spend most of my time in the company of intelligent people so when you come round it's a real change.") The script was a hodge-podge of too many story lines trying to connect too man characters. The multiple introduction of several gallery owners as prime players toward the end of the film lent a serious lopsidedness to the finale. The ending itself seemed to indicate more to come but was cut short without resolution, which made it very frustrating.As a whole the film was an okay picture, but it needed some polishing to make it truly shine.

There was a problem with this film from the very beginning. I couldn't really figure it out until i was nearly at the end. It was the same problem i had with "The Crow". Everything was moving much to fast. It's like they almost didn't have any problems with the tasks they must perform. It was like i was watching a preview. You saw what should happen , and that is the end of that. I'm not saying let's redo "The Godfather", but at least make it seem they have to actually do something to achieve their goals. I'm currently wondering why nobody else saw this, maybe i am a nitpick, but because of this there was (to me)almost no tension at all, and i am guessing this might just have been a commercial for Mercedes Benz's Smart. The only thing missing is a good *commercial* tagline, something in the idea of: "Smart, pure art". Adding up: I wasn't the least bit impressed by this film and i got rather bored with it. Of course, this is my opinion and if you like to see nothing more than just an amusing little piece of film, you could consider it.Tiny tiny tiny spoiler (i might want to add un-forged between pure and art though...)

This was a really fun little movie something akin to a poor man's Cary Grant caper romp and had all the twists and turns you'd expect from lightweight fare without any pretensions, or deviations. The characters were fun, clearly defined and never took themselves too seriously. The acting was first rate, especially the principals, among whom I must mention Art Malik as the villainous enforcer, excellent in everything he does. Liked it so much when I saw it last year I've just ordered the DVD - I just hope it'll play on my DVD player.Some more movies like this thanks...

Gangster Chic in which a conman who owes £50,000 finds a rare sketch from an old Italian artist and makes copies to raise enough cash to pay his debt. The treatment is entertaining, funny without destroying the tension, but lacks the depth or breadth to justify the price of admission in the face of worthier movies.In retrospect, the film looks small budget although struggling along well enough. Competent without any artistic genius sort of thing.Witty and charming, Fakers is a pleasant enough gangster movie that keeps most of the violence off-screen, but has too little substance to be memorable.