The author of this review rarely experienced deja vu as intense as in the case of Ordinary Decent Criminal, 2000 Irish crime comedy directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan. The title protagonist, played by Kevin Spacey, is Michael Lynch, Dublin criminal who leads the gang of thieves and whose ability to both pull out the most daring heist and not spend a minute in prison for it made him into a legend among Irish underworld. Apart from secular authorities, Lynch also openly defies Catholic Church by living together with two women – Christine (played by Linda Fiorentino) and her sister Lisa (played by Helen Baxendale). Irish police has been humiliated by Lynch for years and its members eagerly await his first wrong move. It happens when Lynch, motivated less with material gain and more with mere excitement, conducts his most spectacular and daring heist, which yields him immensely valuable painting by Caravaggio. The heist itself proves to be much easier than fencing such high profile loot. As times goes by Inspector Noah Quigley (played by Stephen Dillane) becomes more convinced that Lynch this time has bitten more than he could chew. IRA also begins to come after Lynch, since his charisma and libertine ways were undermining that organisation’s sway over lower strata of Irish society.
Deja vu in case of Ordinary Decent Criminal comes from protagonist being on Martin Cahill, colourful real life Irish criminal. Cahill’s life and times were few years earlier covered in The General, much better known film starring Brendan Gleeseon and directed by John Boorman. O’Sullivan’s film, especially in the first part, reconstructs main events of Cahill’s career in such way that Ordinary Decent Criminal could be described as carbon copy instead of remake of The General. There are, however, important differences between two films. Apart from the obvious (and ultimately confusing) decision to have Cahill renamed as fictional character, O’Sullivan tries hard to steer his film in direction of comedy. In an attempt to appeal to North American and global audiences, Ordinary Decent Criminal has Hollywood stars in main roles instead of local Irish talent. Kevin Spacey apparently had good time playing character with Irish accent, but Linda Fiorentino, once formidable femme fatale of 1990s independent cinema, is wasted in underwritten role of Irish housewife. Inevitable comparisons between Spacey and Gleeson, however, give clear advantage to the latter. O’Sullivan also provides something that real life and The General didn’t have – some sort of happy ending for protagonist. Although entertaining and funny at times, Ordinary Decent Criminal looks too much like a cheap imitation of much better film and it could be recommended only to those who didn’t watch The General beforehand.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
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