9 out of 10
 

The All-too Realistic Insanity of the EU

A central challenge for screenwriters in comedy is to come up with a credible plotline where ordinary people are put into a ludicrous, yet feasible situation. Why it has taken so long for them to find the bonanza of the sheer insanity of European Union, the multi-nation Government that proports to run Western Europe defies understanding. With shopkeepers being sent to prison for selling a cheese by the pound, laws that have made it more profitable for smugglers to carry yogurt rather than crack cocaine across border into the Republic Of Ireland, farmers paid big bucks to produce as much milk as possible and then just tip it all into the nearest river and plans to force motorcycle helmet manufacturers to make them LESS safe, maybe it`s because it`s just too easy to get cheap laughs just telling it "like it is"... or maybe because the USA would never believe that anyone would put up with such a laughably disfunctional Government. ...And into this mayhem, stumble two young, pre-teen kids, who as a result of the EU`s currency laws, are suddenly and unexpectedly given the equivalent of $500,000 and just a week to spend it in.

Recently bereaved by the loss of their mother, the two children are coping with this and their recent move to a brand new housing estate in the North-East of England and, in a sense are a reflection of the rest of the country. Damien (Alexander Nathan Etel) has a passionate interest in church history and when he receives the black bag packed with bank notes out of the blue, not only does he want to good, but he is constantly visited by various saints, complete with their halos, to help him on his
mission a curious bunch who are not as we imagine them to be. For instance, there`s the cigarette chain-smoking St Clare, St Peter who has an obsession with locks and can name the manufacturers and tumble combination of any known device and the Martyrs of Uganda who are experts on how to build a house out of cardboard boxes. Damien`s older brother, however, Anthony (Lewis Owen McGibbon) is a born capitalist and entrepreneur. He as a mind like a computer than can instantly calculate the value of anything in any known currency and sets about trying to develop an "investment portfolio" for the cash and arrives at primary school each day with a team of other hired kids, all dressed in sunglasses like a scene out of "Reservoir Dogs".

With a guest appearance by Leslie Phillips, this is a very subtle form truly British comedy with so many extra dimensions, including the British cop who comes to the estate to show how to fill out an insurance claim form for WHEN any of the local inhabitants are burgled, so out of control is crime in the UK, and a bunch of joke Mormons. Never letting go of the imagination, Millions has a superb series of twists, showing how everything is depressingly feasible in the crazy world of the European Union`s Government as Damien and Anthony find themselves in one adventure or another as the kids behave as adults and the adults behave like kids - gives it`s clearly meant as metaphore for modern Britain, stumbling around, trying to find it`s place in the New World Order.

A truly fine and beautifully written British comedy.

Film Reviewer: - Robert L. Thompsett