Choose your friends wisely. Then again, good, reliable friends make for bad film plots. From Gloucestershire, U.K., Phill Stubbs’ Last Chancers is about a guy and the trouble that comes from his worst best friend.
Flynn (Ellis J. Wells) is a guy who’s a little too comfortable with his life. Without warning, his best friend, Aiden (Harry Dyer), decides to spice things up a little—actually, a lot. Aiden confesses that he’s in debt for about 10,000 pounds to a loan shark, Poynter (Brian Croucher). The money’s gone, thanks to a bad investment deal. Here’s the fun part: Flynn is a guarantor on that loan, though Aiden never told him about it. Now Flynn is on the hook for the money.
“…collecting the debt will not be easy, and the boys find themselves in way over their heads.”
Since these gentlemen don’t have the cash to pay off the debt (now with interest added), they are given the option to collect a much larger debt for Poynter to clear the loan. Of course, collecting the debt will not be easy, and the boys find themselves in way over their heads. Helping them is Jen (Lisa Ronaghan), Flynn’s vegan blind-date. Thus begins the comic tragedy of Flynn and Aiden.
Last Chancers is a low-key comedy/ thriller. As it hails from the U.K., the humor is composed of desert-dry one-liners, crazy characters, and bizarre situations, but at a level I generally associate with British movies. Tone-wise, the overall story flies at a 7 out of 10, while in the States, stories like this go for 11.
As a “thriller,” it is essentially a fun romp through Gloucestershire; much of the tension comes from the underworld’s intimidating characters. Flynn and Aiden are everyday guys with no discernible survival skills. In contrast, we have the mean Poynter calling the shots, the even more intimidating Kayla (Emily Carding), and the mysterious big boss Stoneface (Larry Rew).
"…essentially a fun romp through Gloucestershire..."
