667. The 51st State (2001)

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Emily Mortimer, Robert Carlyle

Director: Ronny Yu

Running Time: 93 mins

The 51st State is a British film about an American drug chemist who travels to Liverpool to sell off his product to a local gang. However, after the deal goes awry, he becomes trapped in a web of deceit as he tries to complete the deal in any way possible.

While this is a pretty cheesy and generic crime thriller, and it’s not necessarily the funniest comedic story ever, I was surprisingly entertained by it all. Sure, Samuel L. Jackson is forced into playing a very clichéd personality, and the supporting cast isn’t really that strong, it’s enjoyable enough to be thoroughly engaged in, while there’s even a pretty unpredictable twist right at the end.

First things first, however, I accept that the majority of the story is not at all intelligent. Being a more comedic crime film, I don’t mind it all being a little stupid, however some parts of this plot were a little preposterous, while some of it was just boring, and for the most part, it didn’t all fit together too well.

That said, it’s still enjoyable. There may not be much action throughout, and while the performances aren’t too strong either, there are some fun characters, interesting relationships and an unpredictable and exciting climax that had me on the edge of my seat.

While the comedy isn’t that great either, for some reason it’s not painfully unfunny. The jokes themselves are quite predictable, but because everything is just so cheesy, and I was enjoying myself enough, I looked past that, and ended up having a good time watching this film.

Overall, this gets a 7.2 because, despite its cheesiness and relatively poor comedy, I really enjoyed watching all of the madness of this crazy story unfold.