Plastic is a British-American

action comedy Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of acti ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by

Julian Gilbey Julian Gilbey is a British film director, editor and screenwriter. He is known for his work on horror films, also appearing in these as the actor, and performing many other roles on many of those movies. Biography Gilbey began his movie care ...

and co-written by

Will Gilbey William Gilbey (18 July 1979) is a British screenwriter. Gilbey works frequently with his brother, film director Julian Gilbey, and is best known for such films as ''Reckoning Day'', ''Rollin' With The Nines'', ''Rise of the Footsoldier'', ''Dog ...

and Chris Howard. The film stars

Ed Speleers Edward John Speleers (born 7 April 1988) is an English actor and producer. He is best known for playing the title role in the 2006 film ''Eragon'', the antagonist character Stephen Bonnet in the TV series '' Outlander'', as well as James "Jimmy" ...

Will Poulter William Jack Poulter (born 28 January 1993) is a British actor. He first gained recognition for his role as Eustace Scrubb in the fantasy adventure film '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'' (2010). He received critical ...

Alfie Allen Alfie Evan Allen (born 12 September 1986) is an English actor. He portrayed Theon Greyjoy on all eight seasons of the HBO fantasy series '' Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Out ...

Sebastian de Souza Sebastian Denis de Souza (born 19 April 1993)''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England and Wales, 1916–2005'' B100D is an English actor. He is best known for playing Matty Levan in the E4 teen drama series '' Skins''. He has since starre ...

and

Emma Rigby Emma Catherine Rigby (born 26 September 1989) is an English actress. After rising to prominence for her role as Hannah Ashworth in ''Hollyoaks'', she later played Gemma Roscoe in the BBC One drama series ''Prisoners' Wives'' and as the Red Que ...

. The film is purportedly based on a true story involving con-artist Saq Mumtaz.

Plot

A group of British university students are running a successful credit card scam. They make a powerful enemy by stealing his briefcase and are forced to enlist the help of Frankie, who works for a credit card company. The group of five then attempt to rack up two million pounds to pay off their debt but fall short during a night of strippers and champagne. To make up for the money they still need, they plan a diamond heist, which goes abysmally wrong.

Cast

as Sam *

as Fordy *

as Yatesy *

Sebastian De Souza Sebastian Denis de Souza (born 19 April 1993)''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England and Wales, 1916–2005'' B100D is an English actor. He is best known for playing Matty Levan in the E4 teen drama series '' Skins''. He has since starre ...

as Rafa *

as Frankie * Mem Ferda as Tariq *

Lisa Maffia Lisa Maffia (born 16 June 1979) is a British singer-songwriter, musician, rapper, actress, fashion designer, model and presenter, who originally came to the public's attention as the main female member of So Solid Crew. Whilst in So Solid Crew, ...

as Kelly *

Malese Jow Elizabeth Melise Jow, known professionally as Malese Jow and Melise, is an American actress and singer. She is known for her roles as Geena Fabiano on the Nickelodeon sitcom ''Unfabulous'', Lucy Stone on the Nickelodeon musical sitcom ''Big Time ...

as Beth *

Amelle Berrabah Amelle Berrabah (born 22 April 1984), also known as Amelle, is a British singer, best known for being a former member of the girl group the Sugababes, replacing founding member Mutya Buena, who left the group in December 2005. She achieved a so ...

as Fionna *

Thomas Kretschmann Thomas Kretschmann (; born 8 September 1962) is a German actor who has appeared in many European and American films. His notable roles include Lieutenant Hans von Witzland in '' Stalingrad'' (1993), Hauptmann Wilm Hosenfeld in '' The Pianist'' ( ...

as Marcel *

Graham McTavish Graham McTavish (born 4 January 1961) is a Scottish actor and author. He is known for his roles as Dwalin in ''The Hobbit'' film trilogy, Vlad Dracula Țepeș in the Netflix animated franchise ''Castlevania'', Loki in various Marvel animated pr ...

as Steve *

Michael Bisping Michael Gavin Joseph Bisping (; born 28 February 1979) is an English actor, sports analyst, commentator and retired mixed martial artist, who competed in the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight division of the UFC. A professional competitor ...

as Kasper *

Robbie Gee Robbie Gee (born 24 March 1970) is a British actor, best known for his ''Desmond's'' character "Lee Stanley", for appearing in Guy Ritchie's crime caper '' Snatch'', and for his comedy roles in TV series like ''The Real McCoy'' and ''The Crouc ...

as Mr X

Production

On 6 December 2012,

and

were announced to star in the film, with

set to direct and Chris Howard, Julian Gilbey and

set to write the film. International distribution rights are being licensed by

Cinema Management Group Cinema Management Group is an American company located in Beverly Hills, California that acquires, licenses, and distributes feature films, animation and documentaries. The company is noted for its catalog of internationally produced animated feat ...

Filming

On 10 December 2012,

Gateway Films Gateway Films is an independent London based production company, specialising in crime and youth films. It was officially established in 2009 by actor Terry Stone, in collaboration with Terry Byrne, Chris Howard. In 2010, the company launched ...

announced the start of principal photography of the film which was filmed in

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

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 ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Release

The film was released in the UK on 2 May 2014, and later released in the US on 26 September 2014.

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 17% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 3.33/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Far-fetched, frantically overstuffed, and unfunny, ''Plastic'' seems to use its title as a goal as much as a description." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 32 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Guy Lodge of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' said "The title says it all in this cheap, laborious junior heist thriller from British B-movie journeyman Julian Gilbey". Geoffrey Macnab of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' "A nasty streak of casual sexism runs through an already unpleasant and absurdly far-fetched film". Stephen Dalton of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' said "All champagne and strippers, conspicuous consumption and witless machismo, Plastic is a contemporary British heist movie that already feels dated, as if it were made before the bubble burst on Guy Ritchie's comic book gangster voyeurism". There were, however, some positive reviews. Gary Goldstein of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' stated that "As mindless entertainment goes, it's a pretty watchable time-passer.", and Ben Kenigsberg of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said "It's hard to escape the sense that 'Plastic' is itself a cheap knockoff, but the point is not to look too closely". In an interview with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' whilst promoting his film, ''

The Maze Runner ''The Maze Runner'' is a 2009 young adult dystopian science fiction novel written by American author James Dashner and the first book released in ''The Maze Runner'' series. The novel was published on October 6, 2009, by Delacorte Press, an ...

'', actor

expressed his disdain for starring in the film, describing the film as "bad" and saying "It’s really tough, man. Because it’s shaming. And the worst thing is thinking someone will think you did it for dishonourable reasons. I’m not shifting the blame. I recognise my responsibility to that film. But I’ve tried to shake it off since.” He closed out his interview by saying "I’ve got the one film that I regret out of my way. And I don’t intend to make another one."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 2556874
Premiere Interviews
2014 films 2014 action comedy films 2010s crime comedy films 2010s heist films British action comedy films British crime comedy films British heist films British films based on actual events Films directed by Julian Gilbey Films shot in London Films shot in Miami Gateway Films films 2014 comedy films Films shot in Greater Manchester 2010s English-language films 2010s British films