All set for a good night in

A British version of Thelma and Lousie directed by comic Mel Smith. Not a healthy combination!

Nigel Bell

When it comes to making action comedies the British film industry has a pretty poor record. OK, Four Weddings And a Funeral and Notting Hill were big successes but they drew on everything that makes a British film great - good story, good cast, drawing on the British way of life (with an American presence to make it saleable across the Atlantic).

What would you rather be - a nurse or a millionaire?

High Heels and Low Lifes lacks many of these ingredients. Most crucial of all, it tries to emulate an American action comedy. Big mistake. A scene in a British police station just doesn't have the impact of one in downtown New York.

There are two other parts of the mix which drag the film down. It's directed by Mel Smith (of Bean - the Movie fame) and written by Kim Fuller, one time collaborator on Not The Nine O'clock News but most recently guilt of penning Spiceworld.

While Driver and McCormack are excellent as the women attempting to blackmail a gang out of its ill-gotten gains (at least they look like Hollywood stars), the rest of the cast are more familiar as actors from the world of television.

So when's the next plane back to Hollywood?

Michael Gambon is well below-bar as the Mr Big of the gangster world, Kevin McNally looks out of place and the first time you see Mark Williams (who's playing a serious cop) you just want to scream out "today I have been mostly eating beans."

For all that, there are some nice touches - there's an hilarious moment when our heroines are trying to decide what to say to the robbers when they make their blackmail pitch.

There's a good use of split screen when the crucial drop-off is being made.

Try to look mean. You're on the big screen

There's also a Mel Smith cameo in homage to Alfred Hitchcock.

But this is no Hitchcock thriller. There are too many holes in the plot. Why don't the villains just 'phone 1471 when trying to discover who is blackmailing them?

And even though it's only 84 minutes in length it seems like it's 15 minutes too long.

It would have made a classy one-off TV special.