44 INCH CHEST
5 great actors at the top of their game, one location, and a great script that is a joy to listen to.
When Colin finds out his wife has been unfaithful, his friends kidnap the wife’s lover and hold him captive so that Colin can get his revenge. So is the story of 44 Inch Chest. The film stars Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Tom Wilkinson, Stephen Dillane and Ian McShane — and they are all in top form here.
There are flashbacks and some “dream” sequences, but other than that the film all takes place in, and just outside, the room where they are holding the wife’s lover — who they refer to as loverboy. The film isn’t based on a play, but it really feels like it could be in how simple the locations are and how wonderfully talky it is.
What was funny (not funny ha ha, but funny interesting), was that after having watched the movie I read what some of the criticisms of the film had been at the time, and two of the most popular negative comments towards the movie were that it was talky and stagey. Some even referred to it as, and I’m paraphrasing here, a group of brilliant actors trying to one-up each other and an actor’s workshop…
