SPOILER ALERT
Three and Out is a 2008 British black tragicomedy starring
Mackenzie Crook (the pirate who’s always losing his eye in Pirates of the Caribbean,
amongst other roles) and Colm Meaney most famous as Chief Miles O’Brien in Star
Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.
As a massive trekkie, I’ve been a big fan of Meaney in Star Trek and he
is the main reason I wanted to watch this film.
I have never seen him in anything else and I was curious as to what he
would be like. This is also the first
film that I’ve decided to rewatch before reviewing. I really liked it the first time, but I felt
to give it a fair review, I should rewatch it.
Whether I'll do this for other films is still yet to be seen.
Three and Out follows the story of Paul Callow, a London tube
driver by day and a writer at night.
Sick to death with the noise and fast-paced life of London, he’s
desperate to get away to somewhere quieter, but lacks the necessary money. The answer to his prayers comes when after
killing two people who fell under his train, his colleagues play a cruel prank
on him saying that if he runs three people over with his train, TFL will
pay him off with a lump sum of ten years wages, otherwise called “three and out.” Paul falls for the prank and desperately
tries to find a third person to run over, which is where Colm Meaney’s
character: Tommy Cassidy comes in.
Cassidy, a down-and-out low-life drunk with an estranged family and a
terminal illness wants nothing more to die on his own terms. Paul strikes a deal with Cassidy. Paul says that if Cassidy is willing to throw
himself under his train, then he’ll try his hardest to help Cassidy amend
things with his estranged wife and daughter.
Cassidy agrees, as long as Paul honours his half of the agreement.
The acting
was brilliant all round. There were a
number of different scenes that were incredibly emotional and extremely
touching. Notable examples include
Cassidy trying to make amends with his wife and daughter whom he abandoned
eight years prior. Cassidy’s wife,
Rosemary, played wonderfully by Imelda Staunton who acts with enough subtlety
and grace to truly convince the audience that she is completely fed up with her
husband’s rubbish and has no desire to reconcile with him. One of the most touching scenes is when
Cassidy returns his wife’s wedding ring, which he had previously gambled away,
and Staunton breaks down suitably. The
ending of the film is absolutely heart-breaking as well.
Upon having to gotten to know Cassidy, Paul has second thoughts about the deal, yet
Cassidy adamantly tells him to go through with it. He has nothing left to live for and wants to
die on his own terms. This emotion is
only exacerbated when Paul is finally told that “three and out” was just a
prank. The entire suicide sequence is to
be applauded; from the moment that Cassidy steps onto the tracks, to Paul
screaming “no,” to the screen fading to red.
Mackenzie Crook was brilliant in this sequence. He perfectly conveyed the distress and
frustration that his character was feeling at the time. I got chills from the whole scene. Mark Benton and Rhashan Stone as Paul’s
prankster colleagues were great as well.
Not only does the film work as a drama, but it is also
incredibly funny. Of course, a film that
engages with a subject as dark as suicide has to have some humour to stop it
from becoming too morbid, but this film could leave audiences laughing for
days. There is some great physical
comedy, such as Cassidy chasing Paul around town after he has realised that the
latter has slept with his daughter. The running gags are some of the of the
funniest sections of ‘Three and Out.’ For example, in an attempt to find someone willing to
kill themselves, Paul does everything he can think of to convince someone to throw themselves under his train, from asking an elderly
man “who’s on his last legs” to considering volunteering for the Samaritans to
going on suicide chatrooms and encountering Maurice, a Frenchman whose biggest
dream is to be cooked and eaten by somebody else.
In his attempts to convince Paul to do just
that, Maurice becomes one of the funniest running gags throughout the
film. There are too many other examples
of physical comedy to name all of them: from Cassidy trying to get his wedding
ring back from a former workmate that involves the former falling through a
window and the latter being accused of being a “dirty old bastard” by his wife,
to Paul talking a little too loudly about wanting Cassidy to kill himself in a
crowded pub.
Another plus for me is the setting. The last few films that I’ve reviewed have
been set in America, and well…I’m not sure where Ice Age is set, but it was very
refreshing to see the old familiar sights of London. As a native Londoner, I’m all too familiar
with the tube, overcast weather and noise.
We truly see Paul suffering from this endless noise in a small, but
well-shot sequence of all of the noise that a busy city like London can
produce. And lastly, I loved the soundtrack for this film. Each piece of music fitted each
scene perfectly.
All in all, this was a great film with brilliant acting all around, especially from
Crook and Meaney, an original narrative, some great gags and very little bad
points. Even Meaney’s appearance as a ghost at the
film’s conclusion isn’t tacky or corny enough to bust this film down a rank or
two.
