High Heels and Low Lifes [Blu-ray]

Director: Mel Smith Mel Smith

Overview

In this broad comedy from sometime comic actor Mel Smith (The Tall Guy), two women find themselves fleeing criminals. Minnie Driver stars as Shannon, a London nurse who finds her boyfriend Ray (Darren Boyd), a "sound sculptor," becoming increasingly dull and inattentive. When he forgets her birthday, she decides to hit the town with best pal Frances (Mary McCormack), an American actress wasting her time in a terrible small-theater production. Returning to Shannon's apartment, the girls overhear a cell phone conversation on Ray's scanner chronicling the ten million dollars stolen from a safe-deposit box. When police are uninterested in their information, the girls get an idea to blackmail the robbers to get a share. The criminals, led by the hard-as-nails Mason (Kevin McNally), counteract with their own scheme, and the caper begins to go wildly out of control. Similarly plotted to the 2001 release Beautiful Creatures, but much lighter in tone than that dark suspense thriller, the film co-stars Michael Gambon, Danny Dyer, and Mark Williams.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/23/2018
UPC:	0738329230722
Original Release:	2001
Rating:	R
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:26:00
Sales rank:	36,468

Special Features

Audio commentary by screenwriter Kim Fuller and voice actor Lewis Macleod; KLSC trailers

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Minnie Driver	Shannon
Mary McCormack	Frances
Kevin McNally	Mason
Mark Williams	Tremaine
Danny Dyer	Danny
Michael Gambon	Kerrigan
Darren Boyd	Ray
Simon Scardifield	Tony
Len Collin	Barry
Jane Partridge	Receptionist
Jason Griffiths	Paramedic
Ranjit Krishnamma	Doctor
Mark Meadows	Romantic Actor
Ben Walden	Bloodied Actor
Michael Attwell	Duty Sergeant
Hugh Bonneville	Farmer
Kevin Eldon	McGill
Junior Simpson	Mickey
Julian Wadham	Inspector Rogers
James Garbutt	Mr. Waters
Barry Ewart	Busybody
Patrick Baladi	Car Driver
Ben Farrow	Julian
Liam Noble	Delivery Man
James Taylor	Ticket Guy
John Sessions	Director

Technical Credits

Mel Smith	Director
Deborah Aquila	Casting
Peter Brayham	Stunts
Ricky Farns	Special Effects
Uri Fruchtmann	Producer
Kate Rhodes James	Casting
Tom Lucy	Stunts
Barnaby Thompson	Producer

Editorial Reviews

With its bumbling take on the London crime scene and love for heavy artillery, High Heels and Low Lifes is kind of like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Tarts -- though the "tarts" in question are only mistaken for prostitutes, and only one of them smokes. Director Mel Smith confidently transplants the criminal quirks and clipped menace of a Guy Ritchie film into a female-empowerment buddy comedy. It's as fun as it is frivolous -- which is to say, a lot on both fronts -- and even manages to include a few split screens and other snazzy visuals. American Mary McCormack and Brit Minnie Driver are the stylishly dressed, haphazard amateurs, whose poor anticipation of thug reprisal nearly gets them killed on several occasions. Driver in particular gets huge mileage from her charming array of facial expressions, from surprised to rattled to gleeful. While the struggling actress played by McCormack gets plenty of real-world opportunities to ply her trade, Driver too, a nurse, finds herself repeatedly applying pressure to bullet wounds, even sometimes yelling to a downed adversary that she'll call for an ambulance. It's when the film gives itself over to these sillier escapist instincts that it begins to fly. High Heels and Low Lifes starts out with some false, self-conscious gestures toward scruples and soul-searching, including a trumped-up shouting match between the two conflicted leads. But when it settles into an amoral but lightweight cartoon, meant for kicks rather than realism, it hits the mark.