Film - Dom Hemingway

The egotistical, alcohol and drug fuelled romp reviewed by our own egotistical, alcoho...er...by Steve Taylor-Bryant...

Dom Hemingway greets us with an opening monologue all about the artistic loveliness of his genitals whilst receiving oral pleasure and instantly you know this is not your typical Jude Law vehicle. I have had my issues with Law in past performances. He comes across as smarmy when he should be humble and very often overacts in roles that that require a simpler approach and as you can tell from the opening of the film and critic reviews, he is lambasted once again for this Richard Shepard directed film.

Well bollocks to them and let’s raise a glass! This is Law at his genius best.

When Dom finally gets released from a 12 year prison sentence, served due to his reluctance to blow the whistle on his crime lord boss, the handlebar moustachioed egotist wants to make up for lost time and decides a binge is the way to go. Drink, cocaine, hookers and his best pal Dickie Black (Richard E. Grant) embark on a session that leads to much debauchery before finally tracking down the aforementioned Crime Boss Mr. Fontaine to receive his cash reward for the silence he showed and sentence he served. However, fate takes it turn and a near death occurrence leaves Dom bloodied and moneyless so he turns up on the doorstep of his daughter Evelyn (Emelia Clarke) who is not pleased to see him, preferring instead to get on with her own life.

The plot of Dom Hemingway is almost non existent or at least after a while you forget what's going on, but it really doesn’t matter too much as the performances are outrageously glorious and worth the run time and poor story. Richard E. Grant is his usual amusingly dry self and, with the cravat and other dapper attire, adds a strange elegance to some very dark scenes. Jude Law is magnificent, brazen, absurd, arrogant and unsympathetic and yet mesmerising to watch.

Richard Shepard has produced a wonderful film in which our hero drinks, snorts, fights (a lot!), evades castration and pretty much wrecks the South of France and, although this probably isn’t the film he wants to remembered for direction or story-wise, it as entertaining a car-crash of escapism as I have seen in quite a while.

Image - Amazon