Life's what you make it.
When art student Ben Willis (Sean Biggerstaff) is dumped by his girlfriend Suzy (Michelle Ryan), he develops insomnia. To pass the long hours of the night, he starts working the late shift at the local supermarket. There he meets a colourful cast of characters, all of whom have their own 'art' in dealing with the boredom of an eight-hour-shift. Ben's art is that he imagines himself stopping time. This way, he can appreciate the artistic beauty in of the frozen world and the people inside it - especially Sharon (Emilia Fox), the quiet check-out girl, who perhaps holds the answer to solving the problem of Ben's insomnia.
Special Agent Matti
What a hoot. Cashback is a deft romance with a lot of comedy thrown in. It is definitely not a romantic comedy as the love interests (Sean Biggerstaff and Emilia Fox) are merely above average in looks while the hot-looking dude (Shaun Evans) is the comedic side-kick. Oh, those wacky Poms.
The best part of Cashback is that it's written for blokes. It's entirely from a bloke's point of view, from the male gaze to female emotionality. Chicks can watch this flick for the romance and as an aid to understand their man while blokes can watch for the laughs and the naked chicks. Did I mention the naked chicks? More tits than you can shake a stick at and even a vulva shot (Swedish au pair - and what a pair!) What's best is that your girlfriend can't even hassle you about perving at other women because it's all in the name of art. Well done Sean Ellis.
As for working in a 24-hour supermarket, Cashback shits all over Employee of the month. There's no big set-up for the hero to win the girl by defeating his arch-rival, there're just a bunch of night-time nutters out to earn a living, slowly going insane from the boredom. They are so fucking English. Likely lads, bored girls, sleazy bosses - what more could you ask for?
Meanwhile, how cool is "Biggerstaff" as a name for a bloke?
The drama, romance, UK movie Cashback is directed by Sean Ellis and stars Sean Biggerstaff, Emilia Fox, Shaun Evans.
MA 15+ (Brief strong nudity)
102 minutes (1:42 hours)
Film: 19 July 2007
DVD rental: 9 January 2008
DVD retail: 21 May 2008
