The luckless Virgil Guppy has been framed for murder and is now a fugitive. Aided by a dysfunctional family of thieves, unorthodox police procedure and some clever body work of his own, he s... Read allThe luckless Virgil Guppy has been framed for murder and is now a fugitive. Aided by a dysfunctional family of thieves, unorthodox police procedure and some clever body work of his own, he sets out to clear his name.The luckless Virgil Guppy has been framed for murder and is now a fugitive. Aided by a dysfunctional family of thieves, unorthodox police procedure and some clever body work of his own, he sets out to clear his name.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
Photos
- Pamela Anwar
- (as Rachel Colover)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- Quotes
Billy Hunch: [questioning a murder suspect's girlfriend] Do you remember Mr. Guppy saying anything strange that night?
Fiona Money: 'I'm a green oblong with rounded edges.'
- ConnectionsReferenced in Best of the Worst: Our DVD and Blu-ray Collection (2019)
- SoundtracksHamfist
Performed by Morgan Nicholls
Rhys Jones, who also wrote the screenplay, does a fine job of keeping the quirkiness factor pretty high without becoming too over the top. Much of the plot centres around some genuinely comic sequences, and as such doesn't necessarily come across as particularly true to life. However, like Ritchie, Rhys Jones can present a series of tragic and comic events together in such a way as to make it entertaining, and that works for me. An unexpected murder caused by Q-tips occurs near the film's conclusion, and that is a good representation of some of the typically left-of-centre elements Rhys Jones puts out there. To add to the general tone of strangeness, there are brief moments inter-cut throughout the story where the characters, seated in some antiseptic all-white room, are discussing their relationship with Virgil, and we're not sure until the end (and maybe even then) where they are, or if he is dead or alive. Not as gritty or violent as Ritchie's work, Bodywork does still have a nice mix of eccentric secondary characters that make this film a lot of fun. The late Charlotte Coleman (Four Weddings And A Funeral) is the elfishly cute car thief Tiffany Shades, who is partnered with the wiry crook Legal (Simon Gregor). Peter Moreton, as the son of the unscrupulous car dealer, is one of those comically violent types that always seem on the verge of exploding into a rage. The two investigators, exasperated Scot Sgt. Billy Hunch (Clive Russell) and gun happy Det. Danny Sparks (Grahame Fox) are a couple of extremely funny characters, and I wish these two would have had more screen time.
- rustydog-2
- Dec 21, 2004
Details
- Runtime1 hour 32 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix