Review: ‘Strays’ (2023), starring the voices of Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher and Randall Park

August 17, 2023

by Carla Hay

Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell), Maggie (voiced by Isla Fisher), Hunter (voiced by Randall Park) and Bug (voiced by Jamie Foxx) in “Strays” (Photo by Chuck Zlotnick/Universal Pictures)

“Strays” (2023)

Directed by Josh Greenbaum

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city, the comedy film “Strays” features a cast of dogs and a predominantly white group of people (with some African Americans and Latinos) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Four stray dogs band together to get revenge on the sleazy and abusive man who abandoned one of the stray dogs.

Culture Audience: “Strays” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and anyone who doesn’t mind watching intentionally vulgar comedies about adorable animals that have some sweetness with the raunchiness.

Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell) and Will Forte in “Strays” (Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures)

The purpose of “Strays” is to disrupt the image that people have of movies where cute animals talk. It’s the “Jackass” of talking animal movies: crude, comedic camaraderie. If you can’t tolerate a lot of jokes about bodily functions, then avoid this film.

Directed by Josh Greenbaum and written by Dan Perrault, “Strays” has been very clear in its marketing that this movie is not a “family-friendly film” that’s appropriate for people of all ages. This is most definitely a very adult-oriented film for adults who aren’t easily offended when watching movies filled with cursing, gross-out scenes involving body waste, and explicit talk about sex. The fact that domesticated dogs who talk like humans are supposed to be the source of all this raunch is the whole point of the movie.

In “Strays” (which takes place in an unnamed U.S. city but was filmed in and around Stone Mountain, Georgia), viewers are first introduced to the movie’s narrator. He’s an optimistic and eager-to-please Border Terrier (voiced by Will Ferrell), who has lived his entire life with a loser named Doug (played by Will Forte), who never gave this dog an official name. Instead, Doug calls the dog horrible names that usually have the word “shit” in the name. (In real life, this Border Terrier is a female named Sophie.)

In the beginning of the movie, bachelor Doug is unemployed and living in a messy house. Doug spends his days and nights getting stoned and masturbating. A phone conversation between Doug and his mother reveals that Doug can’t live near a school that has children, which is the movie’s way of saying that Doug is a registered sex offender. Because the Border Terrier doesn’t know any better, he thinks Doug is a great person.

Doug likes to do something that the Border Terrier thinks is a game called “Fetch and Fuck.” Doug throws a tennis ball far away, so the Border Terrier can run off and fetch the ball. Doug only does this because he hopes the dog will get lost and never find his way back home. When the dog inevitably does find his way back home, Doug says out loud in anger: “Fuck!”

One day, Doug drives the Border Terrier several miles away, into the inner part of a big city where the dog has never been to before. Doug throws the tennis ball, knowing that this dog will be too far away to walk back to the house. Doug then drives away. Doug’s heinous plan works, and the Border Terrier gets lost.

While out on the street at night, the Border Terrier meets a rebellious and tough-talking Boston Terrier named Bug (voiced by Jamie Foxx), who sees how naïve this Border Terrier is and offers to teach him how to survive on the streets as a stray dog. (This Boston Terrier’s name is real life is Benny.) Bug calls this Border Terrier the name Reggie, since that’s the name that one of Doug’s girlfriends used to call this Border Terrier.

Bug tells Reggie that humans can’t be trusted and a dog’s life is better without having an owner because the dog has the freedom to do whatever the dog wants. Bug believes that humans “brainwash” dogs into thinking that dogs need humans. Bug also tells Reggie that stray dogs shouldn’t get too close to other dogs either, because all stray dogs should eventually learn to fend for themselves. Bug’s past is eventually revealed to explain why he detests humans. One of Bug’s quirks is that he is fixated on humping inanimate objects, including furniture (Sofia Vergara voices a character called Dolores the Coach) and lawn decorations.

Soon, Reggie is introduced to two of Bug’s closest dog acquaintances: Maggie (voiced by Isla Fisher) is an Australian Shepherd who is intelligent and has a super-keen sense of smell. She is a stray because her previous owners preferred to have a puppy. (In real life, this Australian Shepherd’s name is Elsa.) Hunter (voiced by Randall Park) is a Great Dane who is insecure and often fearful. Hunter trained to be a police dog, but instead he was placed in a retirement home to be a therapy dog for the elderly residents, and he ran away. (In real life, this Great Dane’s name is Dalin.)

This motley canine quartet then goes on a series of misadventures. All other animals in the movie do not talk. The only living beings that talk in the movie are dogs and humans. An English bulldog named Chester (voiced by Jamie Demetriou) makes a brief but memorable appearance as a neurotic dog who imagines that there is an invisible, electrical fence surrounding his front yard. The four strays also encounter a German Shepherd named Rolf (voiced by Rob Riggle), a K-9 police dog who trained with Hunter at the same K-9 academy.

Two other noteworthy dog characters in the movie are a philosophical Labrador Retriever named Gus (voiced by Josh Gad) and a feisty Chihuahua named Shitstain (voiced by Harvey Guillén), who is almost as combative as Bug. And when there’s a movie about stray dogs roaming around a city, there are inevitable scenes of the dogs trying to evade capture from the animal control officers. “Strays” also has some scenes that take place in an animal shelter, where an animal control officer named Willy (played by Brett Gelman) has a job that’s similar to a jail guard/janitor.

Dennis Quaid makes a cameo portraying himself as a bird watcher. Why is Quaid in this movie? Quaid is the star of 2017’s “A Dog’s Purpose” and 2019’s “A Dog’s Journey,” two sentimental dramas about a “talking” dog (voiced by Gad) who gets reincarnated and whose thoughts are heard in voiceover narration. Quaid and Gad being cast in “Strays” is obviously the “Strays” filmmakers’ way of poking fun at family-oriented talking dog movies.

For a great deal of the story, Reggie is denial that Doug abandoned him and that Doug is not a good person. When the truth finally sinks in with Reggie, he decides that he’s going to get revenge on Doug, with the help of his new stray dog friends. If anyone watching “Strays” complains about how unrealistic this movie is, the question must be asked: “What part of ‘talking dog movie’ do you not understand?”

The comedy in “Strays” is far from award-worthy, but it does bring some laughs, and it doesn’t try to pretend to be lofty art. The biggest flaw in “Strays” is an over-reliance on jokes and gags about defecation. However, the best parts of the movie have to do with the friendship that develops between these four dogs. Hunter has a crush on Maggie, so there’s potential for more than a friendship between them.

The expressions on these dogs’ faces are enough to charm viewers who like dogs, although obviously much of what is in the movie involves visual effects using computer-generated imagery. The voice actors also play their roles capably, with Foxx and Ferrell being the obvious standouts. As long as viewers don’t have skewed or misunderstood expectations for “Strays,” it can be amusing entertainment with some genuine, laugh-out-loud moments. It’s not the type of comedy for everyone, but neither is “Jackass.”

Universal Pictures will release “Strays” in U.S. cinemas on August 18, 2023.

Review: ‘Blithe Spirit’ (2020), starring Dan Stevens, Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher and Judi Dench

April 1, 2021

by Carla Hay

Leslie Mann and Dan Stevens in “Blithe Spirit” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films)

“Blithe Spirit” (2020) 

Directed by Edward Hall

Culture Representation: Taking place in 1937 in England and briefly in Los Angeles, the comedic film “Blithe Spirit” features a nearly all-white cast of characters (with one black person and a few Indians) representing the middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Struggling with writer’s block, a novelist-turned-screenwriter is haunted by the ghost of his dead ex-wife, who plots to break up his marriage to his current wife.

Culture Audience: “Blithe Spirit” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the Noel Coward play on which the movie is based or the 1945 “Blithe Spirit” movie, but this remake is vastly inferior.

Pictured clockwise, from left to right, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Isla Fisher, Judi Dench, Dan Stevens and Emilia Fox in “Blithe Spirit” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films)

This remake of “Blithe Spirit” is like a meal that seems to have all the right ingredients, but it turns out to be dull and unappealing mush that will leave people with a bad taste in their mouths. Even though this comedic film (based on the Noel Coward play of the same name) has terrific and talented cast members who have done much better work elsewhere, this “Blithe Spirit” movie’s screenwriting and direction fall flat on almost every level. There are some movies that are so bad that they’re entertaining, and there are some movies that are so bad that they’re boring. Unfortunately, this “Blithe Spirit” remake falls into the latter category.

People watching this version of “Blithe Spirit” might already know about the critically acclaimed 1945 movie version of “Blithe Spirit,” directed by David Lean. This remake version of “Blithe Spirit, ” directed by Edward Hall, lacks much of the charm of the 1945 “Blithe Spirit.” The lethargic and simple-minded screenplay of this “Blithe Spirit” remake was written by Nick Morcroft, Meg Leonard and Piers Ashworth. (Morcroft and Leonard are two of the movie’s producers.)

The actors do the best that they can, but they strain for laughs that are few and far in between in this joyless story of a love triangle gone awry because of a vengeful ghost. In “Blithe Spirit,” which takes place in 1937, the love triangle consists of a writer who has a crumbling marriage to a socialite when he becomes haunted by the spirit of his dead ex-wife, who was his most important muse. The ghost of the ex-wife then causes all sorts of mischief in order for her ex-husband’s current marriage to fail.

In the “Blithe Spirit” remake, the person at the center of the love triangle is also the story’s protagonist: British writer Charles Condomine (played by Dan Stevens) is a successful crime novelist who has been hired by a major movie studio to write his first screenplay, which is based on one of his novels. Charles has been experiencing writer’s block, and he tries to hide his fear that he won’t finish the screenplay on time.

Charles’ loyal and adoring wife Ruth (played by Isla Fisher) tries to be as understanding as possible, but there’s an added layer of pressure for Charles to finish this screenplay: Ruth’s father Henry Mackintosh (played by Simon Kunz) is a high-ranking executive of the movie studio that has commissioned Charles to write the screenplay. Charles is writing a crime drama/thriller movie that the studio hopes to be directed by Alfred Hitchcock (played by Peter Rogers), a master filmmaker of suspenseful movies.

Other “celebrity cameos” in “Blithe Spirit” include appearances from Greta Garbo (played by Stella Stocker), Clark Gable (played by Jaymes Sygrove), filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille (played by Colin Stinton) and notorious gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (played by Georgina Rich), with none of these cameos adding much impact to the story. These cameos happen when Charles visits the famed production facility Pinewood Studios in Iver, England, and when he goes to Hollywood.

You can tell already that the “Blithe Spirit” movie remake did not stay true to the original play and movie, which had a small cast of characters and a small number of locations. The “Blithe Spirit” movie remake overstuffs the story with too many characters and jumps around in too many places. It’s as if the filmmakers wanted to distract viewers with a bunch of gimmicky scenes that are new to this “Blithe Spirit” movie remake, as a smokescreen for the sad reality that this movie doesn’t have the verve of the original “Blithe Spirit.”

The vengeful ex-wife who comes back to haunt Charles is his first wife Elvira (played by Leslie Mann), who got divorced from Charles before she died in a horse-jumping competition. Elvira is supposed to be shrewish and seductive, so that when she reappears in Charles’ life, he has a hard time resisting her manipulations. In this “Blithe Spirit” remake, Elvira is American (she was British in the other versions), presumably because Mann, who is American in real life, couldn’t or wouldn’t do a British accent for the movie.

Mann has been typecast in several movies, because she usually plays a character who’s a mild-mannered suburban American mother. Mann has a sing-song tone to her speaking voice that sounds like she could be a kindergarten teacher. And so, movie audiences might find it hard to believe Mann in the role of a spiteful and homicidal ex-wife who doesn’t hesitate to plot the death of her rival Ruth.

The role of Elvira needed to be played by someone who is a more convincing femme fatale but who also has the talent to carry this role with comedic charisma. So although Mann is talented, she is miscast in this role because she doesn’t come across as the least bit dangerous throughout the movie. Stevens portrays Charles as an egotistical, insecure buffoon who won’t find much sympathy with viewers of this movie. Fisher has the most thankless role as Ruth, who’s supposed to be the “good wife,” but even Ruth’s patience gets tested by Charles’ erratic shenanigans.

At the beginning of “Blithe Spirit,” the passion has all but disappeared from Charles and Ruth’s nearly five-year marriage. (Ruth and Charles do not have children together, and neither did Charles and Elvira.) And now, Charles is stressed-out over finishing a screenplay that he has problems even starting. He doesn’t like distractions when he’s writing, so this need for isolation causes even more discontent and alienation in his marriage to Ruth.

Ruth notices Charles’ sullen mood over his writer’s block and says to him: “You’ve been commissioned to write a 90-page screenplay, not ‘War and Peace.’ I don’t see how it can be problematic to adapt a story you’ve already written.”

Ruth continues, “I’m sorry, Charles. I just don’t know how long I can go on like this, with you stuck in an imaginary world and me alone in the real one. I miss you. I miss us.” Charles replies, with a hint of guilt. “So do I.”

This “Blithe Spirit” remake tries to appeal to a modern audience by putting more sex and drugs in the story but without anything that’s too raunchy. Early on in the movie, it’s mentioned that part of the reason why Charles and Ruth’s marriage is faltering is because he has erectile dysfunction. Charles talks about it with his close friend Mr. Bradman (played by Julian Rhind-Tutt), a doctor who gives Charles some benzedrine pills that Bradman says should solve the problem. Charles is hesitant, but Bradman says he’s been taking the same pills and it’s done wonders for his energy and sex life.

And so, Charles takes benzedrine and suddenly has a burst of energy that catches Ruth off guard. He takes her on a bicycle ride in a wooded area and vigorously pedals as if he’s in contestant in a bike race. And later, Ruth is pleasantly surprised to find out that Charles is interested in reviving their sex life, and he’s a more enthusiastic lover than he was in recent months. There’s no explicit sex in the movie, but the sexual activity is either depicted in mild sex scenes or talked about in the story.

With Charles and Ruth’s marriage seemingly back on track to becoming happy again, they go on a double date with Bradman and his wife (played by Emilia Fox) to a theater stage show to see a well-known psychic named Madame Cecily Arcati (played by Judi Dench). The Bradmans don’t have first names in this version of “Blithe Spirit,” but they are called George and Violet in previous versions. Charles doesn’t really take this psychic/fortune teller show seriously and only goes out of slight amusement and curiosity.

Also in the audience are two of Charles and Ruth’s servants: maid Edith (played by Aimee-Ffion Edwards) and cook Edna (played by Michele Dotrice), who have the cheap seats down below, while the Condomines and the Bradfords have top-tier balcony tickets. Most of what Edith and Edna do in the movie is react to Charles’ increasingly unhinged state of mind the more that Elvira irritates him. Some of the other people who are seen in the Condomine house are the couple’s other friends who are written as vague characters who don’t have much to say and only show up when there’s a house party.

“Blithe Spirit” tries to infuse some slapstick comedy by having Madame Arcati fall from a rope during a levitating trick in front of the audience. This mishap leads to her being exposed as a fraud, which causes an uproar from audience members. Many of the people in the crowd demand refunds. It’s a rather unnecessary scene, unless you were really waiting your whole life to see a movie with a Judi Dench stunt double taking a humiliating tumble on stage.

While all this chaos is going on, Charles sneaks backstage to talk to Madame Arcati in her dressing room. He introduces himself as a crime writer and tells Madame Arcati: “Like me, you occasionally have to employ artistic license to entertain the masses.” Madame Arcati responds with a “poor me” tone of voice when she talks about her audiences: “They expect me to deliver a spectacle, a transcendental miracle, night after night.”

Madame Arcati is embarrassed over her fiasco performance, which caused her to lose money due to all the refunds. Her shame is somewhat alleviated when Charles gives her another job opportunity, albeit a temporary one. Charles asks Madame Arcati to do a private séance at his home. He tells her that he, his wife Ruth and “influential guests” will be attending the séance. Madame Arcati willingly obliges.

Charles is hoping that the séance will inspire ideas for his writing and and possibly help him get over his writer’s block. The Condomines and Bradfords don’t take the séance that seriously until some spooky things start happening. Madame Arcati says that the spirit in the room wants to contact Charles. And then, Madame Arcati convulses and the room’s French windows blow open.

Madame Arcati is visibly shaken when she leaves the house. However, the couples have a laugh over what happened. Ruth and Charles won’t be laughing when they find out that the séance has conjured up the spirit of Elvira, who doesn’t waste time in trying to wreck Charles and Ruth’s marriage. First, Elvira tries to drive Ruth crazy, and then Elvira turns to more devious methods to get Ruth out of Charles’ life.

While all of this is happening, Charles is the only one who can see Elvira’s ghost. And so, much of the contrived comedy in “Blithe Spirit” is about Charles talking to Elvira, but other people think he’s going crazy because he looks like he’s talking to himself. Another scenario that happens frequently is that Charles says something insulting to Elvira, but someone in the room thinks Charles is actually saying the insult to them. Tension and arguments then ensue.

Elvira can be maddening to Charles, but she also inspires him and gives him some of his best ideas. It should come as no surprise that Charles overcomes his writer’s block with Elvira’s help. However, Elvira wants credit for her contributions, and that leads to more conflicts between Charles and Elvira. And that’s apparently an excuse for this cringeworthy line to be in this movie, when Charles utters to Elvira: “What am I supposed to say? That I have a ghost writer?”

Charles has unresolved love/hate feelings toward Elvira, so there’s a lot of back-and-forth over whether or not he wants to save his marriage to Ruth or end it. Elvira makes it clear that she wants Charles all to herself. Does this movie really expect people to believe that Elvira’s can come fully back to life, not just as a vision that only Charles can see?

Yes, it does, because later in the story, Madame Arcati becomes the second person who can see the ghost of Elvira, and she has this declaration about Elivra’s spirit: “If the returning spirit feels welcome, it can gradually become physically substantial.” There are some catty showdowns between the main female characters in the movie, but no real suspense or compelling dialogue.

For example, this is the type of bland comment that Elvira gives when she tries to threaten Madame Arcati: “I’ll haunt you until the day I die!” For someone who’s supposed to be a great writer, Elvira can’t even say things that are very witty, due to the lackluster screenwriting for this movie.

The 1945 movie version of “Blithe Spirit” starred Rex Harrison as Charles Condomine; Constance Cummings as Ruth Condomine; Kay Hammond as Elvira Condomine; and Margaret Rutherford as Madame Arcati. There was a natural-looking rapport that the actors had with the dialogue that’s missing from this “Blithe Spirit” remake. Oftentimes, the actors in this “Blithe Spirit” remake give little pauses as if they’re expecting it to be filled by a laugh track. And the slapstick comedy in this remake isn’t that special.

This version of “Blithe Spirit” has unnecessary detours in the plot, including Madame Arcati going to the London Spiritual Alliance and asking national director Harry Price (played by James Fleet) for help. He refuses because she’s been suspended from the alliance because of the con job at the theater were the audience demanded refunds. The Harry Price character is an example of a new character that ends up being irrelevant to this story.

Madame Arcati is a widow who lives alone and talks to her dead husband Donald as if he were still alive. Donald is mentioned enough times that you just know that there’s a reason for it in this movie. Madame Arcati is written as a watered-down character that vacillates between being assertive and pathetic. It’s the kind of unchallenging, shallow role that Dench can do in her sleep. Viewers of this monotonous movie might also be put to sleep.

A scene that’s new to the remake is a prank that Elvira plays on Ruth, when Elvira spikes Ruth’s drink with Charles’ benzedrine during a party that the Condomines are having in their home. Ruth has no idea, of course, and she ends up getting high out of her mind, stripping to her underwear in front of the guests, and getting frisky with Charles in the bedroom during the party. There’s some ghostly voyeurism that Elvira has with Ruth and Charles, but it comes across as creepy, not hilarious.

The filmmakers of “Blithe Spirit” clearly wanted to make this a sexier version of the play and original movie, but they also wanted to keep the movie “family friendly.” And so, the result is a comedy that tries to be adult-oriented but is toned down to the point of blandness, in order for it not to be inappropriate for underage children. It’s as wishy-washy as Charles’ decision making in this love triangle.

Adding to the misfires in this version of “Blithe Spirit” is Simon Boswell’s annoying musical score that sounds like it was made for a TV sitcom, not a movie that’s supposed to take place in 1937. The reality is that “Blithe Spirit” is not the type of movie that’s going to appeal to underage kids anyway. And so, if the filmmakers wanted this “Blithe Spirit” to be sexier than previous versions, it should’ve just gone all in with some clever raunchiness and with a better-quality screenplay.

Movie audiences don’t mind remakes/reboots if these remakes/reboots bring a lot of fresh ideas while staying true to some of the basics that the original project had. Sadly for this version of “Blithe Spirit,” it wallows in stale concepts that wouldn’t even past muster in mediocre comedies made for television. It seems as if Charles Condomine’s writer’s block extended to this movie’s screenplay, which is lacking in the spark and wit that made the original “Blithe Spirit” (the play and the movie) such a treat.

IFC Films released “Blithe Spirit” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on February 19, 2021. The movie was released in New Zealand in 2020, and in the United Kingdom on January 15, 2021.

Review: ‘Greed,’ starring Steve Coogan, David Mitchell and Isla Fisher

February 28, 2020

by Carla Hay

Steve Coogan in "Greed"
Steve Coogan in “Greed” (Photo by Amelia Troubridge/Sony Pictures Classics)

“Greed” 

Directed by Michael Winterbottom

Culture Representation: Taking place in England, Sri Lanka and the Greek island of Mykonos, the dark satirical comedy “Greed” has a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Southeast Asians and Syrians) representing the rich, middle-class and poor.

Culture Clash: “Greed” takes a scathing look at a ruthless billionaire retail mogul and the exploitation of poor laborers who helped build his empire.

Culture Audience: This movie will appeal mostly to people who like comedies that address issues about social classes and poke fun at rich people, but the film overstuffs the story with too many flashbacks and distracting subplots.

Steve Coogan in “Greed” (Photo by Amelia Troubridge/Sony Pictures Classics)

On the surface, “Greed” (written and directed by Michael Winterbottom) might give the most screen time to the pompous billionaire who’s the central character, but the movie’s heart really lies with the anonymous laborers who are exploited to make this arrogant mogul (and others just like him) wealthy and mostly able to dodge accountability. The story, which is a dark satire, centers on British billionaire Sir Richard McCreadie (played by Steve Coogan), who has made his fortune with an empire of discount clothing stores whose chief rivals are H&M and Zara. He is so proud of being a ruthless businessman that he’s created a nickname for himself: “Greedy McCreadie.”

About half of the movie shows Richard on the Greek island of Mykonos, where he’s planning a lavish, star-studded 60th birthday party that will have a Roman toga theme. Things aren’t going so well, since the small amphitheater being constructed for the party probably won’t be finished in time. Many of the invited celebrity guests are canceling or declining their invitations. And the party is really a distraction from the Parliamentary inquiry that McCreadie has had to answer to about allegations of his company’s corruption and improper use of funds.

If you think all of this sounds like Sir Philip Green, the British billionaire founder of Arcadia Group (the parent company of Topshop, Miss Selfridge, Outfit and many more clothing stores), you would be right. Green went through a scandalous Parliamentary hearing in 2018 over mishandling of pension funds. That same year, a member of Parliament also named Green as someone with numerous employee accusations of racism and sexual harassment, with the complaints settled out of court. Winterbottom says that although Green inspired many aspects of “Greed,” the movie isn’t about him, and the Richard McCreadie character is a composite of billionaire moguls.

Greedy McCreadie has an orange-tinted fake tan, super-white dental veneers and a cocaine-snorting, supermodel trophy girlfriend named Naomi (played by Shanina Shaik), who’s young enough to be his daughter. He’s narcissistic, he judges people’s worth by how much money they have, and he treats people like disposable pawns in a game of chess. In other words, he’s the epitome of what people despise about the type of super-rich people who think they’re cool but they’re actually superficial jerks.

Richad’s 60th birthday party will be an ostentatious display of wealth. The event planner Melanie (played by Sarah Solemani) tells Richard that the party will be like “The Great Gatsby” meets “Gladiator” meets “The Godfather”—and Richard loves the idea. And just like many billionaires, Richard wants to surround himself with celebrities.

Melanie’s main job is to wrangle in as many famous people as possible to attend the party. She and Richard go down a list of possible performers in a somewhat hilarious takedown of what real-life celebrities charge for personal appearance fees. (Richard is appalled that Shakira charges as much as Elton John, and he’s thrilled that Tom Jones’ fee is a bargain in comparison.) There’s enough name dropping in this movie to fill the half-finished amphitheater for the party, which has a caged lion on display.

Several real-life celebs (mostly British) make cameos in the film, including Stephen Fry and Fatboy Slim, who are actually at the party. Most of the other stars—including Keira Knightley, Colin Firth and Coldplay’s Chris Martin—appear via video messages where they wish Richard a happy birthday. And when Richard thinks that not enough celebrities will be at the party, Richard gives Melanie the go-ahead to hire celebrity impersonators. One of the movie’s funniest scenes is when the fake celebs are gathered in a dressing room at the party and get various levels of approval by Richard.

The movie begins on a somewhat jarring note, with a celebrity cameo whose life came to a tragic end in real life. The opening scene is of Richard at a company event where he’s giving out awards to employees. The host of the award ceremony is British TV presenter Caroline Flack, who in real life tragically died by committing suicide at the age of 40 on February 15, 2020. At the ceremony, Richard announces that he’s giving a huge chunk of his company dividends to his ex-wife Samantha (played by Isla Fisher), making it the largest dividend payout from a privately held company.

Samantha (who is the mother of the youngest child of Richard’s three kids) is among the family members who will be at Richard’s 60th birthday bash. They include his domineering widowed mother Margaret (played by Shirley Henderson); his insecure teenage son named Finn (played by Asa Butterfield); and his spoiled 20-something daughter Lily (played by Sophie Cookson). Richard has another child, a pouty son in his 20s named Adrian (played by Matt Bentley), who shows up later in the story. Samantha has also brought her much-younger lover named François (played by Christophe de Choisy) to the party.

Richard’s entourage includes his vapid girlfriend Naomi and his kind-hearted and hard-working personal assistant Amanda (played by Dinita Gohil), who’s risen to this position after starting off as a factory employee for his company. Amanda is part of a subplot involving extremely underpaid workers (most of them women) in Sri Lanka who make the clothes that Richard’s company sells. Richard doesn’t care if these workers are underpaid and mistreated if it means it will make him wealthier.

Richard’s official biographer Nick (played by David Mitchell), who’s an opportunistic journalist, is also tagging along at the party. Half of the time, Nick wonders what he’s gotten himself into with this assignment, because he’s witnessing some very unflattering things about Richard that would be tricky to put in the biography. Richard is essentially the Boss From Hell, who does a lot of yelling and hurling of insults when things don’t go his way. He’s also the type of toxic head honcho who will demand that things be done a certain way, forget that it was his decision, and then blame it on someone else if things go wrong.

Although “Greed” might sound like a clever concept to expose the corrupt side of the fashion industry, the execution of the idea is unfortunately a little too haphazard and overstuffed. There are so many flashbacks in the movie, that even the flashbacks have flashbacks. They include seeing how a young Richard (played by Jamie Blackley) went from being expelled from school at age 16 to becoming a hotshot and unscrupulous wheeler dealer in the discount fashion business.

Richard is a tough negotiator and he has no qualms about exploiting workers so he can get cheap labor and increase profits. There are also scenes of Richard facing the Parliament investigation into his shady business practices. Richard is almost proud of the fact that he gets people to invest millions in his companies, he keeps the profits, but then when the investors want their share of the profits, he shuts down the business by declaring bankruptcy.

There’s one scene where a female protestor crashes into the hearings and throws a pie in Richard’s face. It’s the movie’s obvious spoof of what happened in real life to billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch in 2011, during his own Parliamentary hearing. Greedy McCreadie, ever the name dropper, tells Parliament that at least he’s more honest than Richard Branson and Bono when it comes to investors’ money.

And then the movie has subplots about other people during the party preparations in Mykonos. Several refugees from Syria have camped out at the public beach near the party site. Richard wants the refugees to move because he thinks they’ll ruin the party atmosphere. But since it’s a public beach, the refugees refuse to leave. But then, a plan is put in motion that will get them off the beach, by hiring the refugees as kitchen workers for the party.

Lily is a star of a reality show, so the TV cameras have followed her to Mykonos. The show’s annoying producers and director frequently bark orders at Lily, her TV boyfriend and her friends to redo their pre-fabricated scenes when the director needs another take. (This usually happens when someone who’s not part of the show’s cast “ruins” a shot by accidentally walking into a scene while filming.) One of the staged scenes includes Lily handing out food to the refugees to make her look charitable. But when the producers want her to film the scene again, she has to take back the food, which angers the refugees, who don’t know that they’re being used as part of the staged scene.

The movie also shows Richard’s difficult and complicated relationship with his youngest child Finn, who’s constantly seeking his father’s approval and attention and not getting much of either. Finn, who both admires and fears his father, gets a little bit of Oedipal revenge when he makes moves on Richard’s trophy girlfriend Naomi while Finn is high on some of her cocaine. Naomi does a little flirting with Finn, who seems to know deep down that Naomi is only interested in the man in the McCreadie family who has the most money.

Meanwhile, Richard and his ex-wife Samantha clearly have unfinished personal business. When they’re alone together, they flirt and give each other loving kisses. Samantha also tries to be the “cool ex-wife” by being very friendly to Naomi, probably because she knows that Naomi is just a fling, while Samantha still has a hold on Richard because she’s a big part of his business and she’s the mother of one of his children.

And if all these shenanigans weren’t enough, during the party preparations, there are plenty of meltdowns from logistics coordinator Sam (played by Tim Key), who’s frantic about the amphitheater being finished on time. There are also issues with laborers who are unhappy with their wages and unrealistic time constraints. Predictable conflicts about this work then play out in the story.

In the production notes of “Greed,” Winterbottom says that when he was seeking financing for the movie, he told potential investors that the tone of “Greed” would be similar to “The Big Short,” writer/director Adam McKay’s 2015 Oscar-winning satire of Wall Street’s manipulation of the U.S. housing market. The biggest differences between “The Big Short” and “Greed” (besides “The Big Short” being a much-better movie) are that in “Greed,” there’s no breaking down of a fourth wall with characters talking directly to the viewers, and “Greed” tries to do too much with the characters in the story instead of keeping it more focused. This is supposed to be a movie, not a TV series.

Although there are some snappy and witty lines in “Greed,” the movie’s overall tone has the same smugness that it lampoons in Greedy McCreadie. The movie spends so much time inflating and skewering the super-rich and their flunkies that it feels almost like a pandering afterthought when the film tries to counterbalance the satire at the end, with sobering statistics about laborer exploitation in the fashion industry. The materialistic and selfish characters in “Greed” are like people who’ve overstayed their welcome at their own party. And viewers of this movie will find most of these characters so unappealing that they’ll be glad when this party is over.

Sony Pictures Classics released “Greed” in select U.S. cinemas on February 28, 2020.

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