Farce worthy of a run
See How They Run (M, 98 mins) Directed by Tom George Reviewed by Graeme Tuckett ★★★★
We are in London in the winter of 1953. The war has been over for years, but good food and nylons are still impossible to find. In the West End, at least, life is returning to something like normal and Agatha Christie’s The Mouse Trap has just chalked up its 100th performance.
A producer and a sharp-talking, harddrinking Hollywood director are in town to discuss the inevitable filmed adaptation of the play, when, wouldn’t you know it, a bloodied corpse – the Hollywood hotshot, no less – turns up at the theatre.
The plod are summoned, as the plod must be, and the cast, various partners and friends and a disgruntled writer are gathered together to hear who among them might be the murderer. Nothing, of course, is as it seems.
As the inspector, Sam Rockwell tries on various permutations of a British accent, none of them successfully, but does seem happy to at least be trying.
If someone told me this was Rockwell’s own in-joke on the pitfalls of American actors attempting to pass for their cousins over the Atlantic, I’d believe them.
Next to Rockwell, as a young constable of heroic and hilarious indefatigableness, Saoirse Ronan is a revelation of comic timing. There have been plenty of funny moments from Ronan over the years – in The Grand Budapest Hotel and Lady Bird, especially – but seeing her properly unleashed here, finding a solid laugh in every line and gesture, is a joy.
Around Rockwell and Ronan, a very deep support bench, including Adrien Brody and Luther’s femme fatale Ruth Wilson, all turn in good work when needed.
See How They Run establishes its comedic language and sets out its parameters early and clearly. Like any classic stage farce or whodunit, there will be gags that revolve around doors, mistaken identities, shadowy figures seen through windows and barely hidden affairs.
An ongoing joke about ‘‘the murders at Rillington Place’’ that every other detective in the force is working on is mined maybe too often, but it lands perfectly when it is first deployed.
See How They Run is terrific fun. I like a film that does what the trailer and the poster are promising and See How They Run is flying no false flags at all.
This is exactly the witty, luvviebaiting, literate and slightly-in-love-withits-own-cleverness film you were expecting. And bravo for that.
See How They Run is now screening in cinemas nationwide.