Review: Good People

Tom and Anna (James Franco and Kate Hudson) are Americans abroad in London. Hoping for a fresh start from his failed business and her miscarriage, they're barely above water with their finances. So how fortuitous when they find two hundred thousand pounds in cash stashed away in the ceiling of their dead tenant's apartment.

There's some mild moral grappling: Tom doesn't see any harm in keeping the money, Anna wants to call the police. "We spend our whole lives being good," Tom reasons, "and what has it gotten us? Nothing." Considering the eviction notice hanging over their heads - not to mention the potential loss of the house they're renovating and their desire to have children - it's a foregone conclusion that the money isn't leaving their possession.

With money comes problems and who should come a'calling but Detective Inspector John Halden (Tom Wilkinson), who's certain the dead tenant's involvement in drugs is a new lead on his own overdosed daughter's case. There's also Jack Witkowski (Sam Spruell), the deceased's partner-in-crime, who wants his liquid heroin and cash back. Finally there's the big man himself Khan (Omar Sy) who tells Tom, "It's a question of honour. So now I am burning cities. If you are not on anybody's team, then you're not on my team." It's all meant to be threatening but it's just nonsensical rubbish, which pretty much sums up Good People.

That the script is hackneyed and uncompelling is a bit of a shock given Kelly Masterson's previous screenplays for Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and Snowpiercer. The cast are uniformly lacklustre save for Spruell who convinces as a nasty piece of work. It would be great if the magnetic Sy could find a role that showcased his talents as well as his breakthrough performance in the French film The Intouchables.

Even if you lower your expectations, there is hardly anything to recommend this English-language debut of Danish director Henrik Ruben Genz. As a morality tale, it's no patch on the vastly superior A Simple Plan or Masterson's own Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. As a thriller, it barely quickens the pulse.

Good People

Directed by: Henrik Ruben Genz

Written by: Kelly Masterson

Starring: James Franco, Kate Hudson, Tom Wilkinson, Sam Spruell, Omar Sy, Anna Friel