Greed

The usually reliable pairing of director Michael Winterbottom and actor Steve Coogan hits a speed bump with Greed, perhaps the weakest movie the duo have ever produced. The Winterbottom-Coogan combo has been responsible for, now, seven films, with such winners as the many Trip movies, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story and, my personal favorite, 24 Hour Party People. When word hit me that the two were working on a new satire about the fashion world and the upper class, with Coogan headlining as a shifty millionaire, I said, “Sign me up!” The resultant movie, written and directed by Winterbottom, is a muddled mess with only a few laughs and no true sense of purpose or direction. It starts as sort of fictional biopic, the making of fashion mogul Sir Richard McCreadie (Coogan), who will rise to power by buying up struggling clothes businesses and spinning them for dollars through bankruptcies and other manipulations. He basically steps on a lot of faces on his way to the top. Problem number one is that there’s nothing at all surprising or engaging about McCreadie or his rise to power. Coogan portrays the character through varying ages (a couple of other actors portray him at his youngest), and he seems to be going for a mixture of Donald Trump and Coogan’s own Alan Partridge character. He sports big white teeth and a sweet tan—not unlike a certain cranky president.