Delroy Lindo Quote of the Month: March 2007

Danny Boyle has directed some great films, three of which I have seen: Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later. All of these take place in the UK and all have a unique style. After these first two, however, he came over to the US and tried to make a dark fantasy comedy called A Life Less Ordinary and, well, let's just say that he and Hollywood did not make such a successful mix.

I can kinda see what Boyle was shooting for here, but it just doesn't work. The wackiness that pervades throughout is irritating far more than it is entertaining. Delroy Lindo and Holly Hunter play a pair of cupid-like angels (known as "Jackson" and "O'Reilly", respectively) forced to do more nasty work. Though O'Reilly seems to be enjoying the change of pace, Jackson is still very green. In one scene, they are negotiating the price of retrieving a kidnap victim and Jackson overplays his part a bit:

Jackson: "Naturally, we operate a sliding scale whereby if we only bring back part of your daughter we only get part of the money."

O'Reilly: "That's enough, Jackson."

Jackson: "No, I mean if he's cut her ears off, and we can't find them, well we'll knock a couple thousand off the tariff. More for a limb, obviously."

O'Reilly: "Jackson."

Jackson: "Sorry."