The Actors

Though The Actors is based on an idea from comedy-phobe Neil Jordan, and written and directed for the screen by wunderkind playwright Conor McPherson, it’s far from weighty dramatic fare. Indeed, if you see a more unashamedly frivolous and fun movie this year we’d be most surprised.

This comic caper sees Dylan Moran as a miserable fucker (shocker!) and ne’er do well actor, who unwittingly gets involved with ageing ham actor Michael Caine in a ridiculous get-rich-quick scheme which involves defrauding a gang of bumbling mobsters led by the hopelessly unmenacing Barreller (Gambon).

Matters are complicated though, when Moran finds himself embroiled in a romantic subplot with Barreller’s daughter, and he finds himself adopting a series of thoroughly unconvincing disguises as spanners get repeatedly thrown in the proverbial works.

The results are unfeasably silly, and very much in the manner of French farce, but that’s precisely the point. Though much of the comedy is hit-and-miss, Michael Caine’s supreme turn as a hopeless, hack thespian – which comes replete with the worst Richard III production imaginable – makes this enjoyable viewing all on its own, while Moran is ever reliable as our maudlin hero, even beneath the silliest of wigs.