The centre of THREE AND OUT is a beautifully acted, well-written domestic drama about a decent woman who is confronted by the scoundrel who ran out on her eight years ago. He is repentant and, though she doesn't know it, terminally ill. Imelda Staunton beautifully essays the mixture of resentment and attraction; Colm Meaney carefully balances the sympathetic and unsymapthetic. The problem with THREE AND OUT is that this family drama is wrapped up in a goof-ball comedy of dubious quality, based on a dodgy premise. The idea is that a loser tube-driver (Mackenzie Crook of THE OFFICE fame) needs to find a suicidal man to fall under his train and win him a big pay-out from London Underground. Hence, he stumbles upon Meaney's suicidal rogue and takes him on a final weekend of reconciliation in the Lake District. The movie would've been better without the obligatory romance and an excruciatingly unfunny sideplot about a fetishistic suicide. And it must also go down as one of the most mis-marketed films of all time. Far from selling it is a crazy British comedy, the PR guys should've focused on its superior dramatic core.THREE AND OUT is on release in the UK.
