I thought this wasn't as bad as the critics said - a lot better than Scoop, although not as good as the middling Match Point.

We were nearly late but not to worry, I thought, because Woody Allen never has pre-title sequences, just credits and honky tonk jazz. We were on time, though, and thank goodness - music by Philip Glass and just about the best thing in the film, I thought.That must have been where the money went.

The London locations were pleasant without being over the top, but a bit of a tease at times. Ewan McGregor playing one of a pair of brothers kept saying he'd booked a table at Claridges or Nobu. I was really looking forward to seeing the inside of these places but they just got left out.

The boating scenes made up for it though - the brothers bought a lovely little craft for £6,000 in a marina that looked like St Katherine's Dock but seemed to open onto the Solent. All that sky with and scudding sails and perfectly arranged clouds and Philip Glass at full throttle reminded me of my once favourite TV series, Howard's Way.

I liked the spacious pub/night club on two levels and the fringe theatre also on two levels which could have been The Courtyard, I suppose, and a garden party in the grounds of a country house. Oh, and a walk what must have been Regent's Canal. They didn't venture south of the river - except to the Solent, of course.


Ewan was terrible, just walking through the part saying these admittedly silly lines, but his brother, played by the young dark bloke from 'In Bruges', reprising the part, was convincingly wasted and guilt-ridden. Sally Hawkins also reprised her chirpy cockney grateful for clothes shopping advice from the posh actress 'She's lovely, Angela, ain't she?' although I was thrown a bit when she started frowning. The accents drifted a bit and the family relationships didn't ring true. Ewan's posh totty girl-friend seemed to have a dad who was a cabbie.

The plot was silly but just kind of whisked past on wheels with those little wrong-foots and plot twists that Woody Allen likes. My companion said there was some suspense when the brothers became paid killers but I didn't agree.

Any one else seen this yet? I wonder if people recognised the locations.

Sheila