Sumotherhood (2023)

Aside from a rather fun cameo from Ed Sheeran that reminded me that he probably lived a street life not a million miles away from the characters here when he was younger and homeless, the rest of this is really rather disappointing. As you'd expect from Adam Deacon ("Riko"), the writing is break-neck paced and littered with humour, contemporary references and there is a definite chemistry between him and his sidekick (and co-writer) "Kane" (Jazzie Zonzolo). Petty criminals in just about every sense of the word, they find themselves £15k in the hole and desperate to raise the cash. Looks like a robbery is the solution - so they try. A wealthy gent in the toilet? A bank branch? Will they make the cash and escape with their lives? If you listen to the dialogue then it is certainly cleverly constructed with some potent observations contained within the relentlessness of the delivery. It's that last bit that I struggled with, though. It plays way too much to linguistic stereotypes and my brain actually felt more attacked by the constant verbal onslaught than entertained enough by it. I think if I had seen this on stage with just the two men, then it could have made for a belter of a two man show shining a light on their East London community, but as a film the visual comedic elements are all just a bit too predictable and I found the other characterisations - there are really only two of note - just a bit annoying. There's far too much soundtrack and I also felt Deacon just a bit too old to carry off the role very plausibly. It has it's moments, just not enough of them.