Liv Tyler in "Plunkett & Macleane."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller and Liv Tyler Director: Jake Scott Rated: R, with some strong violence, sexuality and language Length: 101 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Margaret A. McGurk
Gannett News Service

(Oct. 1, 1999) -- I think it was during the scene when 18th century British aristocrats dance a minuet to a disco beat that I lost all hope for Plunkett & Macleane. Any filmmaker who pulls such a boldly anachronistic stunt had better have the attitude to back it up. But director Jake Scott can't seem to decide what he's about. The movie is not satiric, it's not slapstick, and for as much as Scott dwells on extreme disparities between rich and poor, he never even manages to work up a decent class-conscious dudgeon.

Instead, he drags us through the murky, muddy streets of London with a pair of dull grifters whose adventures are rarely more than tedious.

Robert Carlyle plays Plunkett, a scruffy street criminal who, while in debtors' prison, teams up with impoverished nobleman Capt. Macleane (Jonny Lee Miller). Together they hold up stage coaches and mug the rich, supposedly to finance Plunkett's plan of beginning new lives in America.

Along the way, Macleane falls for Lady Rebecca (Liv Tyler), whose uncle is the powerful Chief Justice (Michael Gambon). He in turn employs a vicious thug (Ken Stott) who tangles with Plunkett.

The bandits screw up, of course, requiring a fully predictable last-minute rescue flight through the sewers where they get to prove they've given up lust and avarice for noble self-sacrifice.

All this action unwinds in dark, ugly scenes that appear to have been shot through used oil filters, with a soundtrack full of wacky musical choices, apparently intended to appeal to viewers who have no idea when the 18th century occurred.

Apparently for the same reason, the writers decided to pepper everyone's speech with modern obscenities and cliches. For instance, when the two robbers confront one another over the disposition of their ill-gotten goods, Plunkett actually blurts out, "It's not about the money!"

To which I could only pray in vain that Macleane would respond, "Whatever."