Review of Pixie

Pixie (2020)
5/10
Pixie
29 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
It had been a month or so since I returned to a cinema, following the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was not much on, but then I saw the trailer for this film, which looked good fun, and I'm glad I could go to a cinema to see it, directed by Barnaby Thompson (St Trinian's). Basically, Frank (Ben Hardy) and Harland (Daryl McCormack) are in a club one night and are hoping to have a good time with Pixie O'Brien (Olivia Cooke). Pixie is a keen photographer, and the step-daughter of Irish gangster Dermot O'Brien (Colm Meaney). During the night, the two young men drive to Pixie's house, and Frank enters in an attempt to woo her, only to be dragged into an embarrassing photo shoot. Meanwhile, Harland waiting outside sees a man, Pixie's ex-boyfriend, coming up to the house with a gun. In a panic, he decides to run over the man, and he appears to be dead. When Frank returns and realises what Harland has done, they plan to hide the body, only to find a bag filled with many bags of pure cocaine. They decide to try and cash in on their find and look for a way to sell the drugs. They are eventually reunited with Pixie, who realises what they are doing. Being the daughter of a gangster, she is aware of what to expect, and is determined to help them while they are on the run from rival gangsters, including the nasty and ruthless Seamus (Ned Dennehy). Soon enough, the forces of Father Hector McGrath (Alec Baldwin), who is actually a rival gang leader, are on the hunt for Frank, Harland and Pixie. Frank and Harland visit their friend Daniel (Chris Walley), who knows a little about the drug business, and suggests they visit his uncle to try and sell the cocaine. They try selling the drugs to Daniel's uncle, Raymond Donnelly (Dylan Moran), a dealer, and his ageing secretary sidekick, but the dodgy situation elevates quickly and they are forced to flee when Pixie stabs the man in the hand with a knife. The trio continue on and head for the countryside. Seamus does catch up with them and holds them at gunpoint, forcing them to dig their own graves unless they tell him where the stash is. They do eventually tell him to look in the boot of the car, where the boyfriend's supposedly body is also located. They are surprised when the boyfriend jumps up with a gun and shoots Seamus dead. While Frank and Harland bury the gangster's body in one of the shallow graves, Pixie talks briefly to her ex-boyfriend, and smothers him to death, he is also buried. The trio decide to finally settle the situation with the gangsters and offer to deliver the drugs in exchange for millions and arrange a meeting at Father McGrath's church. The corrupt priests and other gangsters gather at the church, and the drugs bag is produced, but it is setup, with Dermot and his thugs also turning up. Soon enough, it becomes a large shoot up, but Frank, Harland and Pixie manage to escape the church, while Father McGrath is shot dead, and Pixie's father is badly injured. In the end, the trio are at the airport waiting to catch a plane to paradise, but Pixie tricks Frank and Harland, and get them held back by security, she walks away with all the money. Also starring Sebastian De Souza as Gareth, Packy Lee as Tommy, and Olivia Byrne as Summer O'Brien. Hardy and McCormack make a reasonable double act as the young men hoping to make millions, Meaney is good as the crime boss stepdad, Baldwin is memorable as the man-of-the-cloth arch enemy, but it is the feisty performance of Cooke that steals the show. It is a reasonable simplistic story of dodgy deals, gang war and a chase for money and drugs, it could have been slightly funnier, but the road movie element is interesting, the Tarantino style stuff is fun, and it is amusing and exciting when it needs to be, so an alright comedy crime thriller. Worth watching!
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