Dom Hemingway, the new film by writer/director Richard Shepard (The Hunting Party; The Matador; TVs Girls) can be summed up in one scene: the opening one. Here Dom (Jude Law) stands in the prison shower, where he’s doing 12 years for robbery, and gives a three-and-a-half minute monologue on the beauty–and power–of his cock. The scene is uproariously funny and truly sets the tone for the rest of the film.
Dom is soon released and his first order of business is to track down the man who married his ex-wife while he was locked up and beat the loving crap out of him. With bloodied knuckles, Dom now needs a pint, and he reconnects with his best friend Dickie (Richard E. Grant), who gives him a gift from Mr. Fontaine (Demian Birchir), the man that Dom refused to give up when he was arrested 12 years before. Fontaine is now a major player in the European underworld and Dom expects a huge payday for being true to the unwritten thieves code.
This sets Dom up on a journey of self discovery and incredible amounts of sex, drugs, and pints of bitter as he becomes moderately wealthy, and then loses it all within a night’s time. With nothing left to lose, Dom reaches out to his estranged daughter, Evy (Emilia Clarke) and tries to mend the bridges burned by his 12 long years behind bars.
Shepard’s script is rife with snappy, intelligent dialogue and Jude Law is radioactive in how he shines as Dom. There is a staccato-like poetry to the dialogue and the back and forths, especially between Dom and Dickie, truly makes this film sing. The jokes come fast and loose, and are never forced. Dom is a guy — a criminal and a relentless dirtbag — yet we still find ourselves rooting for him. This is a testament to Law’s (Sherlock Holmes; Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow; Cold Mountain) incredible, electric, almost too brash performance, which includes the handsome actor putting on 40 pounds and growing out some unfortunate facial hair.
Richard E. Grant’s (Bram Stoker’s Dracula; Doctor Who; Girls) Dickie is the moral center of the film, playing both angels on Dom’s shoulders with aplomb. With Dom acting as a runaway train for most of the film, it’s Dickie who acts as the audience’s surrogate. We see the story through his eyes, which is an inadvertent side effect of a great script.
The rest of the cast is rounded out by colorful characters, each one adding more and more pieces to the mosaic that is Dom’s life. By the end of the story, Dom gets what he truly wants, though it takes him most of the film to even figure out what that is.
Dom Hemingway is a humorous, sometimes raunchy film that turns the antihero archetype on its head with a lead who has no reason to succeed in life, yet the audience still roots for the guy. This is easily one of my favorite scripts — and films — in a very long time, and I found myself desperately trying to memorize lines as there are some hilarious keepers here. In fact, Dom Hemingway is destined to be one of those films that will ascend to cult status, if it can find an audience, and that may be the biggest hurdle for Dom to get over. Those who do meet Dom Hemingway are in for a damn good time and one that won’t soon be forgotten.
Dom Hemingway is rated R and opens nationwide on April 25.
