27th Mar2015

‘Electric Slide’ Review

by Richard Axtell

Stars: Patricia Arquette, Chloë Sevigny, Constance Wu, Isabel Lucas, Jim Sturgess, Cortney Palm, Vinessa Shaw, Christopher LambertWill McCormack, James Ransone | Written and Directed by Tristan Patterson

electric-slide-cast

1983 Los Angeles is full of beautiful girls, luxurious mansions, and glamorous parties. Eddie Dodson (Jim Sturgess), a hip and charismatic dealer of antique furniture for the rich and famous, is living the high life. When Eddie meets the cool and aloof Pauline (Isabelle Lucas), the attraction is instant and the two live out each other’s fast-paced fantasies until Eddie’s high-rolling life catches up with him and loan sharks start knocking on his door. To pay off his debts, Eddie and Pauline begin a spree of bank robberies across LA, charming tellers at over 60 banks to hand over the cash. Now the two are not only on the run from loan sharks but also have the police hot on their trail.

Robbing banks! Being pursued by the police and loan sharks! Antique furniture! What about that doesn’t scream the makings of an action packed and interesting film? If you think so, you’ll be surprised as well when I tell you that Electric Slide is not exciting and my interest started to disappear about ten minutes in. For some reason, this film has a tendency to build up to climactic moments and then just… fizzle out. The loan shark has caught the hero, he’s pulling out a gun, he’s about to shoot… oh wait no never mind he’s let him go again. The police have caught him, they’ve found a witness to ID him, his world is collapsing and… oh wait no never mind he has been released despite overwhelming evidence. A constant repetition of actions like that leads to a disappointing and unfulfilling film.

Eddie and Pauline are also a strange pair. I assumed it would be a ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ kind of deal, but in this team, Clyde does the robbing and stealing and Bonnie just falls asleep in the car and acts as a pretty face when the film is getting dull. Pauline seems like a completely pointless character and I am sure if she was taken out, the film would probably be pretty much the same. As for Eddie, the perpetually in debt anti-hero of this tale, I have one thing to say. If you’re robbing banks to pay off your loan shark, then pay off your loan shark! Don’t spend the money on yourself and then end up in deeper trouble! It may sound silly, but that fact alone made it very hard for me to empathise with Eddie. I actually ended up resenting him for most of the feature.

Electric Slide manages to take the possibly exciting topic of robbing banks and living life on the edge and makes it, well, boring. The most exciting thing about it is the 80s fashion choices and that can’t be sustained for one hour and a half. Electric Slide, in my opinion, is a film to be left alone.

Electric Slide is released in cinemas and on demand, in the the US, on April 3rd.

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