Violet & Daisy | Film review - Bubblegum-popping teen assassins go gunning for Gandolfini

By Jason Best
( What's on TV )
published

Violet & Daisy - Saoirse Ronan & Alexis Bledel
(Image credit: Movie Partnership)

Alexis Bledel and Saoirse Ronan star as bubblegum-popping teenage assassins and James Gandolfini is their doleful intended victim in self-consciously quirky comedy-thriller Violet & Daisy. The duo have only signed up to their latest contract because they need money for designer dresses by pop idol Barbie Sunday - and are completely thrown off their stride when their target surprises them in his home but urges them to carry out the hit. The ensuing drama swings unevenly between passages of soul searching and bouts of cartoony violence in the Tarantino mould. Oscar-winning screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious,), here making his directing debut, doesn't really pull off his film's amoral whimsy but the leads are excellent.

RonanAndBledel

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Certificate 15. Runtime 84 mins. Director Geoffrey Fletcher.

Violet & Daisy is currently showing in rotation on Sky Movies Premiere. Released on DVD by Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment. http://youtube.com/v/C7CdL8xXmxE

Jason Best
Jason Best

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.