Duchess

August 9th, 2024

MOVIE: DUCHESS

STARRING: CHARLOTTE KIRK, PHILIP WINCHESTER, COLM MEANEY, STEPHANIE BEACHAM

DIRECTED BY: NEIL MARSHALL

AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 1 STAR (Out of 4)

RATED R

RUN-TIME: 1H 54M

Duchess follows Scarlett (played by Charlotte Kirk), a petty thief, who falls in love with Robert (Philip Winchester), a smooth-talking gangster in the diamond smuggling business. When a few deals go sideways, Scarlett becomes mixed into the shady dealings of mobsters, placing their love in the crosshairs. Neil Marshall directs, what is a painful Guy Ritchie rip-off, complete with lazy narration, character names we won’t remember, and freeze-frame introductions, all without half the charisma of what Ritchie has ever pulled off. With a painful run-time of close to two hours, Duchess dulls the senses with repetitive shoot-outs, along with a screenplay written by Marshall and Kirk that is not entirely sure if it wants things to be fun or serious. What seems to complicate things is that the once successful Marshall (The Descent, Dog Soldiers, The Reckoning) is trying to create a starring vehicle for the appealing Kirk, but she’s saddled with a monotonous plot that wears out its welcome fast. By the time things veer into a revenge story, Duchess fails to deliver on giving us any reasons to care, making the final result a royal flop.

1 Star

DUCHESS IS AVAILABLE TO RENT OR BUY ON DIGITAL FRIDAY AUGUST 9TH, 2024. 

Written by: Leo Brady
leo@amovieguy.com