Dirty Weekend

Rufus Sewell played Tim

Lia Williams played Bella

Bad title, even worse film!

Like "Twenty-One", this film is dated, especially with its "get even with the male enemy at all costs" type of feminism, not to say its unbelievable scenario and some tacky cameo roles from people like the usually well-respected Ian Richardson (who must surely want all tapes of this film tied around the producer's neck!) and David McCallum, among others.

The basis of this film is having us believe Bella (Lia Williams) switches overnight from being a wimpy female victim to manic murderer out to get her own back on every male who ever forgot to put the toilet seat down.

It could actually have worked if the writer and producer hadn't taken the subject seriously and tackled it as a black comedy instead. As an "R-rated Thriller" (according to my video shop shelves) it is an implausible and dismal disaster. I hate wimpy female victims at the best of times and when Bella gets her first phone call from the sicko Tim (Rufus) who can see her through her flimsy curtains, any self-respecting woman with half a brain would have responded with the same language as he uses, slammed down the phone, reported him immediately to the police (he lived next door after all!), then put up a blanket over the window, arranged for a new silent phone number, and that would have been the end of it.

But no, she has to sit and listen to him every time he phones and lets him stalk and threaten her. Frankly, if one stops taking this film seriously, there is a perverse kind of erotic thrill one can get from listening to Tim telling her what he intends to do with her ... if she'd taken him up on it we might have seen something far more interesting develop!

From Rai, New Hampshire USA

Did you ever have a day when you felt that all men were pond scum? Well, here's a movie where all men are pond scum - and the women too! Except for Bella, our heroine, who is just plain crazy!

Bella (Lia Williams) finds her boyfriend with another woman, so decides to move to Brighton and start a new life as an at-home typist. She lives in a lovely little basement apartment with flimsy curtains, which is the overlook for our Rufus Sewell as next-door neighbor/obscene phone-caller Tim.

Tim makes several calls and uses "colorful" language - and even makes one particular call using Bella's knickers (which he nicked off her clothesline) as a prop.

Tim is even so bold as to meet Bella face to face on a bench overlooking the Brighton beachwalk. He shows her a magazine he carries around with him (it ain't Architectural Digest), tells her a disgusting story, and makes further threats to "hurt" her. Tim has some deep-rooted problems. But lovely eyes and great cheekbones.

Bella visits Ian Richardson as Iranian fortune-teller (apparently they're a dime a dozen in Brighton) who tells her to take matters into her own hands and gives her a switchblade to facilitate things. But he's also a real jerk, keeping with the theme of the movie.

Later encounters are a perverted dentist played by good old Ilya Kuryatkin himself, David McCallum, and a huge quasi-professor of whom we get to see far too much, if you catch my drift. They are of course not very nice men and meet their just dessert.

Sean Pertwee and some other guys try to set some bag lady on fire in an alley and Bella sees to it that it doesn't happen. We expect her to be wearing a Wonder Woman outfit by the end of the movie.

Oh - did I forget the sub-plot??? A serial killer is working his way through Great Britain and guess where he ends up? But gee don't let me spoil it for you...

Back to Rufus....he looks lovely in a slimey perverted sort of way. The walk he puts on when he meets Bella on the boardwalk is priceless. A little hunched over, hands in pockets, creepy!!

There are some real nice close-ups of his eyes. He was probably about 22 when they filmed this. He uses a great accent which I can only assume is authentic for the Brighton area, not being an expert on English regional accents.

It's a great performance by Rufus to play a creep that makes your skin crawl, despite the fact that he's so darned good-looking. If I could bring myself to turn the sound down and just watch, I might actually find "Tim" appealing.

But "Dirty Weekend" is definitely a very bad movie. Director Michael Winner should have quit after "Death Wish".