Dom Hemingway

The only reason to see Dom Hemingway is to watch Jude Law go absolutely ape-shit. It's as if the writer and director Richard Shepard thought, "the world needs to see Jude Law act a part within an inch of its life," and this is the result. Most of the time it's a good thing, but it's something I never thought I needed to see.

Law plays the title character, a safe cracker who didn't rat and served a twelve-year prison sentence. During that time his wife divorced him and died of cancer, and he missed out on the growing up of his daughter. When he gets out, he teams up with his old pal (Richard E. Grant) and goes to the south of France to meet with the crime boss (Demian Bichir) to get his financial reward.

That's basically the plot, which is kind of interesting because a movie about a career criminal really has no crimes (well, in the real world, he would be put back in prison for beating the crap out of the man who married his ex-wife). Most movies about guys like this involve the old "one more heist" plot, but this one is simply a character study of a man who spends his time raging.

The problem with the film is that Dom Hemingway isn't as charming or lovable as Shepard seems to believe. He's the kind of guy who is the loudest one in the bar, who runs into traffic without looking, and thinks its perfectly acceptable to beat people up. You wish he would leave, not stay, but we're stuck with him for an hour and a half. Law is very good, but you can only take so much.

Dom Hemingway is structured with a couple of long scenes, such as when he tells off Bechir, and another very long scene in which he tries to open a safe in ten minutes (if he doesn't, his cock gets cut off, and since the film opens with him rhapsodizing over it, it means a lot to him). These scenes are not well directed or written. A car accident in which all the inhabitants would be killed instantly has some of them merely being knocked out. His daughter (Emilia Clarke) adamantly refuses to forgive him, but then softens, but why we really don't know.

If you like Jude Law, go ahead and see this. If not, you really don't need to.

I would like to add that as a would-be writer myself, I'm curious as to why Shepard chose the name Hemingway. He could have named him anything, but he chose a name that is instantly recognizable belonging to someone more famous. Even the semi-literate have heard of Ernest Hemingway, even if they've never read any of his books. Why not Dom Fitzgerald? Dom Faulkner? Dom Steinbeck? I'd like to ask him about it.