20
FILM
[REVIEW]
Subtle, but Rich Michael Winterbottom’s Greed is a subdued assault on rapacious capitalism Written by
ROBERT HUNT Greed Directed by Michael Winterbottom. Written by Michael Winterbottom and Sean Gray. Starring Steve Coogan, Isla Fisher, Shirley Henderson and David Mitchell. Opens Friday, March 6, at the Landmark Plaza Frontenac Cinema.
D
espite having made more than feature films, ritish director ichael interbottom is an elusi e figure, wandering through genres with the same open-minded resol e seen in so many of his characters. e’s made period films (Jude, The Claim , war mo ies (Welcome to Sarajevo , art house porno (9 Songs , pop biographies (24 Hour Party People , political documentaries (The Shock Doctrine, The Emperor’s New Clothes , an inspired e ploration of a barely filmable literary classic Tristram Shandy and, perhaps most notably, the comedy erit series The Trip, in which te e oogan and ob rydon amble through urope e ploring fi e star meals, celebrity impressions and their own in ated images. n all of them, interbottom is a personally in ested yet almost passi e obser er, a polymathic chameleon ta ing notes and uggling ideas. Greed, interbottom’s se enth film with oogan, is a dry, strangely une en satire, a film so determinedly understated that much of its comic points are deli ered almost subliminally. oogan plays ir ichard c readie, a billionaire fashion mogul described as a self made man who worships his creator. he character is loosely based on ir hilip reen, a ritish businessman notorious for boorish beha ior, a string of ban ruptcies and accusations of se ual assault. c readie’s life of pri ilege and
20
RIVERFRONT TIMES
MARCH 4-10, 2020
riverfronttimes.com
Steve Coogan is an abrasive billionaire in Greed. | SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
Greed is a dry, strangely uneven satire, a film so determinedly understated that much of its comic points are delivered almost subliminally. a arice is presented in ashbac s as he prepares for his 60th birthday party, an opulent orgy of self indulgence on a ree sland, complete with celebrity guests or their loo ali es and re enactments of scenes from Gladiator. lso in tow are his family, e wife, a battalion of ser ants and itchen staff, his reluctant and slightly guilt ridden biographer played with comic aw wardness by comedian a id itchell , and, to his great chagrin, a camp of yrian refugees on the adacent public beach. t’s not me, he insists when he tries to get them remo ed. t’s my guests. ome of them are ery superficial. Though Greed is loaded perhaps e en o erloaded with subplots and secondary characters employees at c readie’s sian factories, a lion handler, a reality
show crew , the film is almost too subdued for its own good. oogan is wonderfully appalling he can play repugnantly arrogant creatures li e this in his sleep but much of the humor is shaped in the off handed style of The Trip series. here’s an awful lot going on, but much of it seems to be passing by in the bac ground. e see c readie’s unremittingly awful beha ior, but e erything else becomes a blur. ut somehow, it wor s, mostly, and more in retrospect than while you’re actually watching it. fter a genuinely shoc ing plot twist ery close to the end, interbottom starts to pull the disparate plot lines and narrati e debris together. lthough oogan’s character is broad and abrasi e, interbottom’s ultimate goal is more subtle, a satirical assault on unbridled capitalism, softly spo en. Greed is in some ways an e ercise in misdirection, a brash cartoon with a hidden argument in the manner of dam c ay’s politicized comedies (think The Other Guys rather than Vice . t’s easy to laugh at the crass e tra agances of the selfish class as they light cigars with hundred dollar bills or sit in executive mansions assembling their boards of toadies, but interbottom loo s past that to remind us of the implications of their behavior. Greed makes a worthwhile point about our current era of economic piracy, e en if it stumbles and meanders before getting it out. n
