Is 'Back In Business' the business?

Poster copyright of "Back In Business" & New Light Films

On Wednesday when I was in Manchester I went to see an all British low budget movie called 'Back In Business' It's only showing in the Apollo cinemas, so not many across the UK.

I should should probably start by explaining a bit more about the film;

Will Spencer (Martin Kemp), a middle aged aristocrat who in his younger days would pull governmental scams with his acting buddy and partner in crime Tom Marks (Chris Barrie). Over the years the two have lost contact but Will and his neice Fiona (Joanna Taylor), who works as head of marketing at the British Space Centre have a plan. - To scam the Russian and Chinese governments for millions of dollars for making them believe they can have Britain's new space buggy "Explorer" - A triumph in technology that could save the world from the looming energy crisis. So they approach Travis (Stefan Booth), Tom's accident prone but computer whizz son to get Tom on board. Soon the team set their scam underway - Just three problems:

1. The Chinese and Russians won't hand over the money until they get Explorer.

2. Jarvis (Dennis Waterman), An ex police officer who has worked as Will's butler since Will lost him his job, however even after all these years Jarvis is still trying to pin something on him.

3. The Explorer hasn't actually being built yet - The British have the plans, but never made the Explorer due to lack of funds...So the gang have to build their own using the plans.

Ok, so what did I think of this all British movie made to encapture the real heart of British cinema at it's best?

Answer - Not a lot.

I am almost ashamed to say that it grated with me quite a bit - That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, because I did, and I found myself sniggering quite a lot at various things. But on the whole it wasn't that slick;

I hated the chopped up camera shots - When interesting action like the breaking into the space centre, etc... happened, the shots would peal off into 2, 3 or 4 different shots which split up the action and at times made it confusing to clearly follow what was going on.

There were places where the acting lacked too - The chemistry needed in a couple of father/son scenes with Tom and Travis could have been more convincing, and there's one particular scene that just had me cringing and audibly groaning in my seat. Basically Tom as a master of disguise is pretending to be the head of the Explorer space project Trevor Pilkinton (Brian Blessed), when in the meeting with the chinese. However it is actually Brian himself in the chair, with Chris Barrie's voice lip synced. Easily the worst and most unconvincing part of the film for me - despite the sillyness of the plot on a whole.

However I do like the way the cast worked together on the whole, as well as general sillyness of the plot - It was a bit like a spoof of Mission Impossible, and in it's own way the movie is really sweet and charming. As are a couple of the subplots - Like Travis wanting to be a full member of the team instead of just being there because he's Tom's son and is good with computers - He wants to prove his worth, and there's also a slight romantic interest between Fiona and Travis which is very understated and I think suits the movie well in that way.

I don't know how long this film will stay at the cinemas as it hasn't been doing very well, and is barely advertised, but if you live near an Apollo, and fancy seeing something a bit different then I certainly won't discourage anyone from seeing it, - in fact it was a nice movie to see to pass the time, and I give it 7/10 after weighing up the various factors such as budget, cast, plot, how much the bits that grated with me distrupted my enjoyment of the film, etc... Though admittedly I did have to give it an extra point just for the sheer comedic value of seeing the talented Chris Barrie dance around in a banana costume and later appear in Queen of England drag...

Additional: Back In Business is being released on DVD with a few extras on March 17th so if you don't fancy seeing/can't see it at the cinema, you can pre-order it here.

Official Back In Business Site Apollo Cinema Listings Teaser Trailer