The Pay Day (2022) Poster

(2022)

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4/10
The Pay Day
BandSAboutMovies11 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
A broke and frustrated IT technician (Kyla Frye, who co-wrote this with Sam Benjamin, who plays her love interest of sorts) goes on a one-woman heist stealing data worth millions on the black market. Then she meets a charming con artist (Benjamin) who wants to take her money all for himself. Or her heart. Maybe both. There's also the villainous Gates (Simon Callow) who has put the whole scheme together and might just take everything from both of them.

The Pay Day may not make you forget any of the Ocean's movies, but it's a fun caper. Callow makes for an intriguing villain and the idea of cyber crime is timely enough to make this stand out.
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1/10
Truly Terrible
damo417 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Awful script, terrible acting and a poor excuse for a plot! Please don't waste your time unless, like me, you managed to get through this by noting all the errors, of which there are many - the pistol still cocked after being fired. It doesn't take a genius to work out why this is available "free to watch". We should be able to charge them to watch it!

How on earth did it cost £250,000, according to IMBD. There are many people producing amazing works with a camera-phone and absolutely no money whatsoever.

Seriously, do NOT waste anymore of your time, you've already spent far too long reading this review...
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2/10
Stay Away
echaczyk28 April 2023
This movie started on the right note. A silly crime caper about getting files worth $500 Million from a company and putting them on a thumb drive. The woman will get 1% of the take, which she desperately needs. And then the move starts to drag. And drag. And drag some more. Dead space between lines of dialog. The pacing so slow that your mind goes numb. A story that just disintegrates and nothing of any importance is said or done in the last hour.

I watched it to the end and can't even tell you who got the thumb drive or what they even did with it. I know it was a Mcguffin, but the interplay between the two leading actors was juvenile at best.

Avoid this movie like the plague.

Or watch it, if you need something to put you to sleep.
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2/10
Cool Beans
nogodnomasters29 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Jennifer (Kyla Frye) is a top computer coder and just got terminated as her services are no longer required after she recoded all the computers. She is three months behind on her rent because can not land another job as it appears she is being blocked by Gates (Simon Callow) a man who wants to hire he for an hour for five million dollars. She must get into a key carded building with a chip in her key card, go into a secured office and download a file marked "Oliver" off a computer that has accounts and passwords worth $500 M dollars. These are illegal funds from somewhere and we are given multiple choices as what they are. While on the computer a man named George Cook (Sam Benjamin) enters the picture. There is a struggle for the real file as things get jumbled.

The plot was not well thought out or put together well. The characters were bland.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.
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1/10
Was hoping for it to get better...nope!
psxexperten23 April 2023
The plot holes are massive. I mean you would have to suspend all reality of society to believe some of the things that occur to set up the "story" or "plot" or whatever this thing is.

Why do films like this even get made? How do scripts like this get financed? Black mail? I don't get it. Even the acting isn't great.

There are other parts where you will just shake your head and ask: Why. That's the main question. This is utter nonsense. Unless you're into watching a plot that moves in ways that confuse you and make you annoyed, I would avoid this movie.

This was the most pointless excuse of a movie I have ever seen. I want my time back. It started off very promising and just went all the way down under the hill from there. Acting was terrible maybe because the script was so poor. So sad. I'm so angry I can't give it less than a star. The only thing worse than sitting through it to see if it would by some chance redeem itself, was the ending. Such a waste of my time, energy and electricity.
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1/10
Hideously Awful.
kimbpaul3 April 2024
How did this crap even get made? Maybe I don't understand british humor, or slang, but that shouldn't be a requirement to watch a movie. Usually, with the aid of captions, I can suss out what the slang means even if I can't understand the accent. I managed to watch about 40 minutes of this before angrily shutting it off. Wooden lines being delivered by robotic actors. Stultifyingly boring. I'm sure there's a whisper of a plot in there somewhere but since it took 40 minutes for the macguffin flashy drive to make its appearance and disappearance, I couldn't believe that there was anything worthwhile coming down the pike. I doubt the script ran longer than 50 pages, as the one-line-at-a-time dialog from the 1st eight characters barely account for three typewritten pages. Boring. Lackluster. Waste of time. Made me wish I could punch both Jenn & George & stuff a sock in Simon Callow's posh mouth.
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9/10
Don't believe the trolls
ParkaRiley17 April 2023
A couple of moody film buffs that think they know the ins and outs of filmmaking seem to want to put this movie down but I'm all here for this type of film, especially after delving into what I could find online to learn about the team behind The Pay Day.

The plot doesn't reinvent the wheel but the talent on display in this from start to finish shine brightly and that isn't just the cast I'm talking about.

Real effort has gone into this and it's easy to tear down something that tries to be different from the hum drum of typical football firm/london gangster type movies coming out today.

Turn this on, have fun and mark my words, we'll see a sequel to this.
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6/10
"We'll get to that later, here's what you need to do!"
SargeantSlaughter8 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The Pay Day is a decent watch that has some notable strengths, including the chemistry between Kyla Frye and Sam Benjamin. While the plot is ok and the script well-crafted, it may not be the most original or groundbreaking story you've seen in the genre.

The film shines on the shoulders of the leads though, their performances are believable and nuanced, and they do a great job of bringing their characters to life.

Opens well, there's a bit of a delay in getting to the thick of it but then I realised the film isn't so much about the heist as it is about what's happening to the leads and their own journeys.

Put Callow in more of everything!
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8/10
Great way to spend 90 mins!
WillzBead9017 April 2023
Really enjoyed this, the main characters are well matched in this little rom-com from London. Soundtrack is very groovy and I was left wanting more! Bring on Number 2!

Especially loved Simon Callow's work as the big baddy.

The chemistry between Kyla Frye and Sam Benjamin is a breath of fresh air and I for one cannot wait to see what they'll do next!

The film has great pace, albeit a slightly slow start but the film gets into it's groove once the 20 min mark is reached.

I especially liked the police officer characters, very funny and stole every scene they popped up in.

I think there's a lot more to come from this group of filmmakers and am looking forward to it.
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8/10
A Supremely Well-Shot Entertaining Heist Film With Suspenseful Storyline
rannynm16 November 2022
A supremely well-shot entertainer, The Pay Day is a perfectly pleasant film for those looking for a heist film, even though there are some stilted dialogues and scenes that drag.

The film follows a frustrated and recently-fired IT technician (Kyla Frye) who is charged by a crime boss (Simon Callow) to embark on a one-woman heist to steal valuable data worth $500 million on the black market. Like all good heist films, it's about people who feel neglected in society. Frye's character is being evicted, and she feels that the whole world is against her. This opportunity to steal data is her chance to make it big. When a suave conman (Sam Benjamin) interrupts her mission to steal the loot for himself, matters grow even more complicated.

The cinematography in The Pay Day as well as the casting are two of the high points. Frye's portrayal of a harried, desperate programmer looking for a way to make some cash is equally stirring and entertaining... though the film does focus on the latter more, due to the writing. This heist film sometimes wants to be a comedy and other times a romantic film, which makes it feel a little disjointed and somewhat like a series of sketches. For example, random flirting between Benjamin and Frye occupies 20 minutes of the film while Frye tries to extract files from a computer - whose, we don't know yet. Speaking of random things, there are a bunch of odd elements in the film that seem either implausible or infantile to the point of being ridiculous, like a scene where a character survives a shot to the heart and another with a stilted and suggestive exchange about pomegranates. It's largely the writing that makes the first half of the film drag, save for some scenes that really hit it out of the park. There are also tons of stereotypes thrown in, and some will make you cringe. For example a crime boss lounging with his cronies in a dimly lit bar; Pink Panther-esque background music; the typical green zeroes and ones speeding across the screen of a computer being hacked; and a scene where the protagonist sprints through sterile white walkways of every generic office complex.

The Pay Day promotes resourcefulness and resilience. There are some sexually suggestive scenes and discussions of smoking and alcohol.

I give The Pay Day 4 stars out of 5 and recommend it for ages 12 to 18, plus adults. By Eshaan M., KIDS FIRST!
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8/10
Cool crime caper!
MikeyRusk17 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Caught this on Amazon last night with the missus. At first I thought this would be just another rom-com but I actually enjoyed the quick and cutting dialogue that the lead character snapped out early doors.

Really enjoyed the way this movie presented London, not as some bleak / overly blue city of crime and coppers but a vibrant and interesting place with a really quirky set of characters!

Simon Callow is a treat to watch in this and I'd have loved to have seen more from both him and Ellen Thomas who also looked like she was having a great time being nasties.

Lead pair clearly have a good set of chemistry between them and overall the film keeps a good beat.

Worth a watch!
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9/10
Good watch, ambitious and genuine.
CallMeGates18 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I liked this a lot more than expected.

Jenn is a young woman who's let go in the first few minutes from a high end job as an IT bod in London. Her boss (Ellen Thomas) takes great delight in showing she has little love for the talents held by Jenn and ceremoniously lets her go.

Jenn is stuck for work options but receives a mysterious call from someone we later learn to be called "Gates". Played by the constantly underrated Simon Callow in my opinion - who is glowing with devilishly high levels of charm in this movie - Gates has a job offer for the tech boffin but it means breaking the law.

After some back and forth, Jenn goes for it and is introduced to a world full of danger and 'spanners-in-the-works' as we enjoy a fish out of water tale. As soon as the heist gets going Jenn meets someone called George who is there to steal the very same thing!

There's lots of fun in what ensues and the film as a whole is an ambitious and lovingly put together movie.

A debut for director Sam Bradford, this shows real promise for what is to come from the filmmaker. The film's lead, Kyla Frye, gives a fantastic performance as the movie's anchor and Sam Benjamin oozes charm and charisma whenever on screen.

The added bonus of side characters such as the cops and receptionist create this eclectic mix of personalities to reflect the modern city of London in all of it's glory.
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10/10
Nostalgic and Fresh
BigKeith5417 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Watched this on FreeVee and was very impressed. The movie feels like those old heist movies from the 60s yet set in today's modern world.

I was quite drawn to the lead character of Jenn as a young woman struggling in today's financially oriented world. Pressures of student debt and work troubles cloud her future until an especially brilliant Simon Callow calls to offer her a job!

Whilst this setup isn't anything new, this movie seems to really enjoy itself with building the peculiar and yet familiar around the main character as she begins an adventure of conning her way into a building to steal valuable data.

The career criminal is a great addition to things and its fun to see their relationship grow out of the odd settings they find themselves in.

Brilliant watch from a young team of filmmakers on their way up.
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10/10
A bit of fun.
WiseGangy26 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Not to say this film doesn't have it's faults but I was entertained enough to enjoy it and watch until the end.

The movie is about a recently sacked IT boff called Jenn who's got a bee in her bonnet for following the rules and still not being given a chance at life (we can all relate to that one).

Enter the extravagant crime boss Gates played by Simon Callow who offers her a deal to make big money fast but of course it means bending some rules.

The film gets fancy here and you can see the ambitions of imitating Oceans 11,12 and 13. A heist is laid out but interestingly the movie doesn't let that drive the plot forward, instead we keep character focused and experience a ride of ups and downs with Jenn as she goes along on the adventure and meets hilarious one liner characters, some really interesting bit part players and the all-important co-lead George.

The film is strongest when Kyla Frye and Sam Benjamin share the screen. Great chemistry and the characters they play bounce off each other effortlessly.

It's a good looking movie too. Funky soundtrack and worth a watch.
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8/10
Indie-pendence a plenty!
cremdelaron8 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The Pay Day is a solid thriller that's definitely worth a watch, especially if you're a fan of the genre. Engaging enough and the performances are strong, with Kyla Frye delivering a particularly impressive performance.

While the storyline is well-crafted and there are plenty of tense moments throughout the film, some may find the pacing a bit slow in certain parts. However, the payoff is definitely worth it for sitting back and soaking in the array of characters on display and the playful nature of this one.

There's flavours of Hustle mixed with Guy Ritchie all over it. One of the things that makes The Pay Day stand out is its musical score which is excellent, and helps to create a familiar type of film that we all know we've seen and yet this has a fresh face. It's not just another London based shotgun romp with 'wheelers and dealers' either. There's an honest realness to it.

Overall, I think The Pay Day is a good movie for anyone looking for strong performances from a team of young ones on the rise. Director Sam Bradford shows real promise as a filmmaker to watch.
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