The Limey Review
by Allan Jenoff (jenoff AT interlog DOT com)October 8th, 1999
The Limey
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Terence Stamp, Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzman, Barry Newman, Peter Fonda
Running time: 90 minutes
My rating (5 star scale): ****
Wilson (Stamp) is a career criminal who learns his daughter Jenny has died while he was in prison. He goes to Los Angeles to learn the details of her death. He contacts the man who wrote to him (Guzman in a great supporting role), a woman who befriended her (Warren) and finds her lover Terry Valentine (Fonda). He suspects Valentine was involved in the car accident that killed Jenny. Valentine is a music producer with a bodyguard (Newman) who seems to know a lot of lowlifes. Valentine does not want to meet Wilson. Wilson is not the kind of man who takes rejection well.
What follows is a revenge drama with Wilson working his way through a series of obstacles until he can have his highnoon style showdown with Valentine. There is lots of violence and a little humour. Stamp gives a restrained performance that some might see as too laid back. Fonda has a surprisingly small role that he performs well in. The supporting cast is strong. The directorial technique of constant flashbacks and flashforwards and fantasy scenes gets boring quickly.
Soderbergh made Sex, Lies and Videotape, Kafka, and Out of Sight. That list should make it clear he is not a director trapped in a formula. I made the mistake of expecting this film to be similar to Out of Sight. It's not. The emotional intensity of that film is completely lacking here. No one steams up the screen in The Limey the way Clooney and Lopez did. But that's not what Soderbergh is going for here. I won't call this film an unqualified success - you never make an emotional connection to any of the characters - but it does work and is worth seeing.
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Allan Jenoff
Check out my web page at http://www.interlog.com/~jenoff/
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