Paul Callow (Mackenzie Crook) is a London subway train driver. After running one person after another, his co-workers tell him about a little known rule. If he kills one more person in the same month, he will get a buyout of 10 years salary and an early retirement. After the required time off, he has only one day to hit that last person. He starts looking for a willing participant. He pulls Tommy Cassidy (Colm Meaney) away from jumping off a bridge and pays him £1500 to do it in front of his train. Tommy's motto is "a deal's a deal" and he wants to swim with sharks. With the limited time, he decides to visit his estranged wife Rosemary (Imelda Staunton) and daughter Frances (Gemma Arterton) with Paul in tow.
The general concept is problematic. It's not a naturally funny idea and this is not done with enough comedy to overcome it. It tries to be a black comedy while keeping Paul a good guy. It doesn't work. This could have worked with a sleazy underhanded Paul who gets his comeuppance in the end. With Paul as a good guy, I don't like the way this ends but the movie's problem is well entrenched by then. Meaney and Staunton are a good dramatic pairing but they're not that funny. Arterton comes in like a freight train but it's only a secondary character in the second half. The level of difficulty with this comedy is high and it doesn't make it.
The general concept is problematic. It's not a naturally funny idea and this is not done with enough comedy to overcome it. It tries to be a black comedy while keeping Paul a good guy. It doesn't work. This could have worked with a sleazy underhanded Paul who gets his comeuppance in the end. With Paul as a good guy, I don't like the way this ends but the movie's problem is well entrenched by then. Meaney and Staunton are a good dramatic pairing but they're not that funny. Arterton comes in like a freight train but it's only a secondary character in the second half. The level of difficulty with this comedy is high and it doesn't make it.