Plastic, film review: Nasty streak of casual sexism runs through absurdly far-fetched film

(15) Julian Gilbey, 102 mins Starring: Ed Speleers, Will Poulter, Alfie Allen, Emma Rigby

Geoffrey Macnab
Thursday 01 May 2014 18:03 EDT
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Plastic plays like a bad episode of The Inbetweeners, minus all the jokes. Its protagonists are pimpled students at a London university who behave as if they are mobsters on leave from a Scorsese movie.

They eke out their student loans through blackmail and credit-card fraud. When they run foul of vicious hoodlum Marcel, they end up in Miami with only a few days to raise £2m.

A nasty streak of casual sexism runs through an already unpleasant and absurdly far-fetched film. The director Julian Gibney doesn't seem sure whether his characters are loveable rogues or delinquent psychopaths.

His earlier, low-budget Rise of the Footsoldier had a grit and modicum of plausibility that are utterly lacking here.

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