HEIRS AND DISGRACES

LOOSE REMAKE OF 1940S CLASSIC KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS FAILS TO LIVE UP TO THE WIT, PIZZAZZ AND THEATRICS OF ITS PREDECESSOR

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GLEN POWELL trades the money-driven barbarity of sci-fi movie The Running Man for accidental anarchy in an exceedingly loose remake of Kind Hearts and Coronets.

It jettisons the gimmick that made the 1949 film such a whoop-inducing blast: namely, Sir Alec Guinness playing all eight members of an aristocratic family marked for death.

Writer-director John Patton Ford's contemporary revamp could do with that kind of unabashed, showstopping theatrics to enliven a plodding script that gives the aggrieved lead character everything he needs to be happy - a loving partner, luxury apartment, well-paid job, caring boss - but still compels him to slide a noose tightly round his neck.

Becket Redfellow is disowned at birth by his obscenely wealthy family, spearheaded by grandfather Whitelaw (Ed Harris).