''Circus'' is a 2000 British/American neo noir crime film directed by Rob Walker and written by David Logan. The movie stars John Hannah,

Famke Janssen Famke Beumer Janssen (; born ) is a Dutch actress. She played Xenia Onatopp in '' GoldenEye'' (1995), Jean Grey / Phoenix in the ''X-Men'' film series (2000–2014), and Lenore Mills in the ''Taken'' film trilogy (2008–2014). In 2008, she ...

, Peter Stormare,

Brian Conley Brian Paul Conley (born 7 August 1961) is an English actor, comedian, singer and television presenter. Conley has been the host of ''The Brian Conley Show'', as well as presenting the Royal Variety Performance on eight occasions. In his 40-ye ...

Fred Ward Freddie Joe Ward (December 30, 1942 – May 8, 2022) was an American actor and producer. Starting with a role in an Italian television movie in 1973, he appeared in such diverse films as '' Escape from Alcatraz'', ''Southern Comfort'', '' The R ...

and

Eddie Izzard Edward John Izzard (; born 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential pantomime. Izzard's stand- ...

. It was released in the United Kingdom on 5 May 2000 and in the United States on 15 September 2000.

Plot

Con artists Leo (John Hannah) and Lily (Famke Janssen) are partners both in work and in life. Lily wants to get out of the racket and settle down in a nice place somewhere far away. Leo agrees, saying that within a week they should have enough to leave for good. Leo's cousin Bruno (Brian Conley) is having a problem with his casino losing money. He wants Leo to run it. But he hates Leo and wants to get rid of him. Further complicating Leo's life is Julius (Peter Stormare) who has asked Leo to kill his wife, Gloria. Only when it comes time to be paid, Julius, who has Leo committing the murder on tape, confesses he does not have a wife; he paid a woman to pretend to be his wife. Julius wants 500,000 in pounds, otherwise, he will release the tape to the authorities. Then Moose shows up and he is looking for a woman who is the love of his life. Her name is Gloria. He asks if Leo could help him find her and Leo reluctantly agrees. Finally, there's Troy, a loan shark. Leo owes him a lot of money, but he has lost it all at the track. Troy is getting increasingly impatient and violent as he does not like to be kept waiting on his money. Evidence is piling up that Lily is working a con on Leo. With all these problems, it does not look as if Leo will survive the week. Bruno's in trouble with the Inland Revenue, so his accountant, Julius, comes up with an idea to con Lily by turning all of Bruno's shipping company over to her, while Bruno pockets a $20 million. Only the problem is that Leo has got to Julius first and worked out a con of his own. Together Julius and Leo staged Gloria's murder. Leo goes to meet Julius with the blackmail money. Bruno has men with guns waiting, but Moose shows up to even out the fight. A bloodbath ensues and Julius, the only survivor, tells the tale to Bruno. Only Leo is not dead, and he leaves a recording that Lily finds and then shows to Bruno. Leo figured out that Lily was conning him, and he confesses that he stole Bruno's money. An enraged Lily and Bruno go to find Julius and catch him as he is splitting town. But then Leo shows up wanting to kill Bruno. Bruno says that Leo cannot possibly kill him because he would have to kill his wife also. Reluctantly Leo agrees, and shoots Lily. Then he convinces Julius that the only way they can be partners is if he kills Bruno, so that they have a murder each on their hands. Julius does not mean to, but the gun goes off and Bruno is dead. During their getaway, Julius begins to feel odd. Leo confesses that he slipped a sedative into Julius' drink. He leaves a drugged Julius by the side of the road and with the con finished he makes his way to the train station where he meets up with Lily.

Cast

* John Hannah as Leo *

as Lily Garfield * Peter Stormare as Julius *

as Troy *

as Elmo *

as Bruno * Tom Lister Jr. as Moose *

Amanda Donohoe Amanda Donohoe (born 29 June 1962) is an English actress. She first came to attention as a 16-year-old living with pop singer Adam Ant, appearing in the music videos for the Adam and the Ants singles "Antmusic" (1980) and "Stand and Deliver" ( ...

as Gloria *

Ian Burfield Ian Burfield is an English actor, who has often played roles as police officers and detectives on television. He appeared in 12 episodes of ''The Bill'', 39 episodes of '' EastEnders'', and played the part of a Tweed Coat Fingerman in 2005 film ' ...

as Caspar *

Neil Stuke Neil Robert Stuke (born 22 February 1966 in Deal, Kent) is an English actor best known for his role of Matthew in the TV sitcom '' Game On'' and more recently for playing Billy Lamb in the BBC legal drama ''Silk''. Career Stuke played Matthew ...

as Roscoe *

Michael Attwell Michael John Attwell (16 January 1943 – 18 March 2006) was an English film and television actor. He is possibly best known for his role as Kenny Beale in the television soap opera ''EastEnders''. After training at RADA (studying Stage Manage ...

as Magnus *

Jason Watkins Jason Watkins (born 28 October 1962) is an English stage, film and television actor. He played the lead role in the two-part drama ''The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies'', for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor. He has also ...

as Dom * Christopher Biggins as Arnie *

Hinda Hicks Hinda Hicks (born 1976) is a British and Tunisian-born singer, actress and artist who first gained notability with her musical career in the late '90s. She is best known for her debut album ''Hinda'', that charted at #20 on the 1998 UK Top 4 ...

, had a small cameo role as Kelly, a jazz singer.

Reception

, the film holds a 9% approval rating on

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 ...

, based on eleven reviews with an average rating of 4.73/10.

References

External links

* * * * * {{rotten-tomatoes, 1100318_circus 2000 films 2000 crime thriller films British crime thriller films British neo-noir films Films set in Brighton 2000 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films 2000s British films English-language crime thriller films