CAPSULE: The Two Faces of January (2014, Dir. Hossein Amini)

Sitting in a cafe in Athens, Rydal (Oscar Isaac), a shifty American tour guide, spots a man who reminds him of his recently deceased father. As shifty tour guides somehow manage to do, Rydal ingratiates himself on the well-to-do couple. Chester and Collette MacFarland (Vigo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst) end up taking a liking to Rydal. It is not long before a tour around the flea market turns into a dinner invitation, and dinner turns into setting the couple up with fake passports and escorting them out of the city after an "incident" at their hotel. Shifty isn't in short supply in Athens, it seems.

Though The Two Faces of January is his first time in the director's chair, with screenplays that stretch back to Michael Winterbottom's Jude, Hossein Amini is no stranger to the film making world or for that matter to critical acclaim. Here he works off source material from 'The Talented Mr Ripley' author, Patricia Highsmith, and the results are serviceable, if resolutely unremarkable. Watchable, would appear to be the best descriptor.

The film has the locales, the cast and the look, but Amini struggles to give the situation a discernible pulse. Isaac and Dunst don't connect like they need to, nor is Mortensen asked to bring out any of his abundant menace. It is reasonably clear that all three have been directed to aim for understated, slow burn drama but they're working with a less than supportive script and so the results are just plain slow. Slow and dispassionate. As a screenwriter from way back Amini should have been able to come up with more than this.

For a psychological thriller The Two Faces of January is light on thrills and even lighter on psychology. It holds attention but only barely. If you are keen to watch, maybe pick you're timing to maximise enjoyment. I'd suggest you save till you are next holidaying... on Crete... and it's raining out...

★★☆

Trailer: