The Hot Potato

The premise for this so-called 60's style Brit caper sounded intriguing...except that only Ray Winstone has any sort of character or charisma.

Where the likes of Terry Thomas and Peter Sellers had oodles of fizz and bang and entertained us, when the script was a dud, this is just a dud all round. The other characters - and their actors I've already forgotten, ten minutes after it's finished. They might as well been office furniture for all their presence and acting.

The script is obvious and rather boring as we now know all about Plutonium - it has no excitement value whatsoever. The movie seemed to have the budget of a TV pilot 'special' - it's so obviously struggling that it's rather embarrassing. The direction, too, is particularly feeble, without any panache or style whatsoever.

I've been generous with my 3/10. It's not going to be too awful for those that might buy the DVD if they have a good idea of what sort of movie they're getting but for most Hot Potato is a waste of time and effort. And, yes, I do enjoy and own many of the old genuine 60's films on DVD - Too Many Crooks, for example - brilliant! Buy that instead!