Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher team up for this thin Hollywood romantic comedy where a workslave and a slob meet in Sin City, get drunk, wake up unhappily married, then spend the rest of the movie fighting over their $3m win on a one-armed bandit. D
irected by Helensburgh filmmaker Tom Vaughan, this is a more raucous feature than his debut, Starter For Ten. It's like Knocked Up with money instead of a baby, and the whole thing reeks of stale Lambrini and "Seth Rogen was busy".
Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden? (15) **
It seems as if all of Morgan Spurlock's docu-mentaries are about Morgan Spurlock, and although this didn't hobble his documentary, Super-Size Me, Osama bin Laden may be one step too close to narcissism. His girlfriend Alex, the one who hated him eating all those big Macs for a month, is pregnant, and Spurlock's response is to go on a hunt for Terror Suspect No 1 so the world will be a safe place for their child to grow up in. While touring the caves of Tora Bora, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the engaging Spurlock is keen to impress on us that he's putting himself at risk, but the insights he digs up (shooting a rocket launcher is good fun and people in Saudi mosques aren't keen on Israel) will only surprise someone who hasn't been out much themselves since 2001.
XXY (15) ***
An Argentinian film by debut director Lucia Puenzo, this features a terrific performance by Ines Efron as Alex, a confused adolescent dealing with the emotional challenges of being a hermaphrodite in Uruguay. Given the New Director award at last year's Edinburgh Festival, the film at its best reflects the difficulties of parent-child relationships and largely rises to the challenge of its sensitive sexual subject, with the exception of its portentous opening close-up of a carrot being diced.
Un Secret (15) ***
The legacy of survivors' guilt affects a Jewish couple (Patrick Bruel and Cecile De France) idolised by their frail, shy son until a mysterious toy in the attic offers a clue to his father's life during the French occupation. Based on a true-ish story, directed by Claude Miller (La Petite Voleuse), Un Secret obsessed France last year, and although the film's pace is sandbagged by flashbacks, it remains emotionally gripping.
Cashback (12A) *
Whimsical British comedy with insomniac student Ben (Sean Biggerstaff, below) coping with a breakup from Suzy (Michelle Ryan) by working nightshifts at a 24-hour supermarket alongside macho dolts, a David Brent boss and a checkout girl (Emilia Fox) he can't help but check out.
To break the monotony, he fantasises that he can freeze time, mostly to indulge himself in some voyeurish soft porn.
However, time does indeed seem to stand still during Ben's irritatingly pretentious ruminations about life and beauty (defined here by Maxim models). Adolescent in subject and, alas, also in execution.
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All on general release from FridayThe full article contains 504 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
