''Miranda'' is a 2002 British

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

starring

Christina Ricci Christina Ricci ( ; born February 12, 1980) is an American actress. Known for playing unusual characters with a dark edge, Ricci predominantly works in independent productions, but has also appeared in numerous box office hits. She has receiv ...

Kyle MacLachlan Kyle Merritt MacLachlan (; ' McLachlan, February 22, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dale Cooper in ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), as well as roles ...

John Simm John Ronald Simm (born 10 July 1970) is an English actor, director, and musician. He is best known for playing Sam Tyler in ''Life on Mars'', the Master in ''Doctor Who,'' and DS Roy Grace in ''Grace.'' His other television credits include '' S ...

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors. Director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in t ...

Tamsin Greig Tamsin Margaret Mary Greig (; born 12 July 1966) is an English actress, narrator and comedian. She played Fran Katzenjammer in the Channel 4 sitcom ''Black Books'', Dr Caroline Todd in the Channel 4 sitcom ''Green Wing'', Beverly Lincoln in Br ...

and

Julian Rhind-Tutt Julian Alistair Rhind-Tutt (born 20 July 1967) is an English actor, best known for playing Dr "Mac" Macartney in the comedy television series ''Green Wing'' (2004–2006). Early life Rhind-Tutt was born in West Drayton, Middlesex, the youngest o ...

. The film is classified as a romance/thriller by

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Plot

Frank (Simm), a librarian in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, falls in love with a mysterious American dancer named Miranda (Ricci). Frank appears naive, but his character is as complex as Miranda's. Graphic scenes of sex and seduction illustrate Frank's fantasy and unrealistic love for Miranda. She suddenly disappears, and he tracks her down in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, discovering she is actually a

con artist A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...

. He leaves her, returning to

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

. Miranda and her boss (Hurt), who not so secretly "loves" her, are in business selling buildings that they don't own to unwitting customers. These buildings are really being prepared for demolition. In one scene in which Miranda is negotiating the sale of a warehouse with Nailor (MacLachlan), Nailor sees men putting down cable around the building. He asked Miranda what were they doing and she replies that they are putting in cable TV when, in fact, they are preparing the warehouse for demolition. After making a big score, by successfully conning Nailor to buy the warehouse, her boss leaves her, and Nailor seeks revenge against Miranda. Frank realizes that he should not have left her, and returns to London, with a very quirky friend who is instrumental in saving Miranda from a knife-wielding Nailor. While Frank's friend distracts Nailor with fancy

jiu-jitsu Jujutsu ( ; ja, link=no, 柔術 , ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu, is a family of Japanese martial arts and a system of close combat (unarmed or with a minor weapon) that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdu ...

moves, Frank slams a table over Nailor's head. The film ends in comic relief with Frank and Miranda living the good life off Miranda's ill-gotten gains.

Cast

* Matthew Marsh * Pik Sen Lim *

Joanne Froggatt Joanne Froggatt (born 23 August 1980) is a British actress. From 2010 to 2015, she portrayed Anna Bates in the ITV period drama series ''Downton Abbey''. For this role, she received three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a ...

Cavan Clerkin Cavan Clerkin (born 1973) is a British actor and filmmaker from Hackney, London. Career Clerkin has appeared in various TV shows including ''Smack the Pony'', ''The Inbetweeners'' and ''The IT Crowd'', and feature films ''Gangster No. 1'', '' ...

* Ryozo Kohira * Dennis Matsuki * Carol Sua

Filming locations

Filmed on location in London and

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

Critical reception

BBC Movies review labelled the film as a "limp, homegrown romantic comedy" and "a soul-sapping stinker'. The Radio Times listed the film as being a Comedy-Romance "but featuring little of either" and describing the film as a "dull British embarrassment" with "one of Christina Ricci's worst performances to date".

References

External links

* * * * British crime films British erotic thriller films 2000s erotic thriller films 2002 films Scarborough, North Yorkshire Films set in Yorkshire Films shot in North Yorkshire Films shot at Pinewood Studios 2002 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films 2000s British films {{erotic-thriller-film-stub