Watching “Greed” is like getting cornered by a wise and passionate however overbearing man at a celebration who rails about social injustice and the sins of the rich — after which arms you a printout stuffed with stats to again up his arguments.
Even although you agree with a lot of the factors he’s making, you’ve bought a pounding headache from the style through which he’s hammered dwelling these factors.
Michael Winterbottom (“The Claim,” “24 Hour Party People,” “Code 46”) is a splendidly gifted and versatile director, so it comes as no small shock “Greed” is such a thudding. one-note takedown of a fictional avaricious style mogul.
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I wasn’t exaggerating in regards to the relentless, lecturing tone of the movie. When the story attracts to a detailed, the closing credit pepper us with (admittedly sobering) stats in regards to the obscenely low wages paid to employees in Third World Countries who make all these designer garments typically endorsed by rich celebrities.
Before we get to these sobering figures, “Greed” takes us on a meandering and typically convoluted journey in telling the story of Sir Richard McCreadie, aka “McGreedy,” who’s a fictionalized model of the controversial British style billionaire Philip Green.
The at all times entertaining Steve Coogan (a frequent Winterbottom collaborator) is suitably oily and loathsome however virtually cartoonishly excessive because the perpetually tanned Richard, who’s planning an obscenely lavish, “Gladiator”-influenced 60th party for himself on the Greek island of Mykonos, as a result of when you’re going to throw a celebration based mostly on a film set in Rome, in fact you do it in Greece.
With a deliberate reproduction Colosseum amphitheater that must be constructed inside every week, determined speak of bringing pop superstars similar to Adele and Shakira to carry out, bacchanalian actions on the occasion menu and all kinds of scheduling hiccups, this might wind up being the “Ok, Boomer” model of Fyre Festival.
I imply, there’s an precise lion on the premises. A lion Richard feels a false sense of kinship with — as a result of in spite of everything, he’s Sir Richard McCreadie, a religious descendent of Richard the Lionheart!
What an fool.
As we study from the time-hopping storyline (with Jamie Blackley enjoying youthful Richard in flashbacks, and “London Calling” by the Clash on the soundtrack), Richard constructed his billion-dollar-plus fortune by ripping off designers, exploiting third-world labor, bankrupting rivals and eliminating 1000’s of jobs.
He’s the .00001%, and he’s by no means misplaced a second’s sleep troubled by how he climbed to the highest of the mountain.
“[Richard] wasn’t somebody who loved clothes, he loved deals,” says a former spouse in a filmed interview. “Money makes money. And when people think you have money, then they give you more.”
Director Winterbottom employs graphics telling us it’s “4 DAYS TO THE PARTY,” and many others., as we rely right down to the momentous occasion. The movie is in all places with popular culture subplots inside subplots, e.g., Richard’s daughter Lily (Sophie Cookson) is filming a “Bachelorette” kind actuality present referred to as “The Young, the Rich & the Beautiful,” and doesn’t appear to appreciate her “co-star” is homosexual.
And then there’s Nick (David Mitchell), a journalist of doubtful ethics who’s writing Richard’s biography, and the alliance-of-circumstances he strikes with a McCreadie company government named Amanda (Dinita Gohill), whose household again dwelling in Sri Lanka works in one of many firm sweatshops.
The dizzying array of characters additionally consists of Richard’s bubbly and nonetheless fiercely loyal ex-wife (Isla Fisher), who’s having a grand outdated time dwelling off her $1.2 billion divorce settlement (she personally designed a yacht the dimensions…