Even a great British cast and obscenity-laden gangland dialogue aren’t enough to make what amounts to an extended acting exercise into much of a movie.
The great Ray Winstone plays a garage owner whose wife of 21 years (Joanne Whalley) is leaving him for a French waiter, so his pals kidnap and help him terrorize the younger man (Melvil Poupaud).
Ian McShane as a gay thug and John Hurt as his wizened debating partner are standouts in a cast that also includes Tom Wilkinson and Stephen Dillane.
“44 Inch Chest” unfortunately takes place almost entirely on a single set. And Malcolm Venville’s pedestrian direction and visual sense don’t do justice to his stars or the script by Louis Mellis and David Scinto (“Sexy Beast”).