Running time: 105 minutes
Starring: Nicole Appleton, Peter Facinelli, Natalie Appleton, Melanie Blatt, James Cosmo, Jonathan Cake, Corin Redgrave
Rating 3 out of 10
When will they ever learn, these pop stars who hanker to act? David Bowie,Madonna, Mick Jagger, Sting, Phil Collins and the Spice Girls have all disgraced themselves in front of the camera, and now Nicole Appleton, Natalie Appleton and Melanie Blatt (aka three quarters of chart-toppers All Saints) dare to
sup from the same poisoned chalice.
The trio play the Chase sisters - Gerry (Nicole), Mandy (Natalie) and Jo (Melanie) - a close-knit team of East End thieves who steal more than admiring glances from swinging '60s London.
During a routine burglary, Gerry is caught in the act by Daniel (Peter Facinelli), an American student who works on radically chic mag Zero. Instantly smitten with the intruder, Daniel decides to help Gerry escape, even offering to put her up for the night.
While romance blossoms for young Gerry, her sisters foolishly try to hold up aclub belonging to notorious gangster Duggie Ord (Corin Redgrave). The robbery goes tragically awry, and once Duggie learns the identities of the would-bethieves, he exerts his considerable pressure on love-lorn Gerry tomake amends.
Tired of her criminal lifestyle, she vows to go straight, planning one finaljob that will net the family enough cash to pay off their debts and to flee the country.
Nicole, Natalie and Melanie evidently have all been taking lessons from the Bianca Butcher school of Queen Vic English, perfecting abrasive accents that would be right at home in Albert Square.
Of the trio, Melanie Blatt emerges with most of her dignity intact, displaying a quiet vulnerability and sweetness as naive Jo who reluctantly goes along with her sisters' plans for the sake of family unity.
Natalie as the wild and incendiary Mandy is required to do little more than remove her top for a frenetic sex scene in a bike shed, while Nicole makes for apleasingly sassy romantic lead (Sensitive Saint).
Unfortunately, she is partly responsible for the film's most excruciating scene, in which Gerry learns the truth about her mother's death. When she utters the soon-to-be-immortal line: "What ya sayin'... that our muvva... was murdered?'', it's almost impossible not to break out into uncontrollable sniggering.
Stewart goes to town with his direction, throwing every conceivable trick atthe screen. Gerry and Daniel's dalliance with cup-cakes spiked with hallucinogens, gives rise to a good 20-30 minutes of trippy overkill: swirling naked bodies, strobing lights and distorted faces and backdrops.
The ending feels horribly misplaced, transferring the action to the French countryside for a final showdown between the Chases and embittered dealer The Hawk (Sean Giller). The film would have wound up just as well (or as badly,depending on how you look at it) in the country lanes of this fair isle.
Leaving the cinema, my abiding feelings about Honest were summed up all too well by the words of the All Saints themselves: "Never ever have I ever felt so low..."
The trio play the Chase sisters - Gerry (Nicole), Mandy (Natalie) and Jo (Melanie) - a close-knit team of East End thieves who steal more than admiring glances from swinging '60s London.
During a routine burglary, Gerry is caught in the act by Daniel (Peter Facinelli), an American student who works on radically chic mag Zero. Instantly smitten with the intruder, Daniel decides to help Gerry escape, even offering to put her up for the night.
While romance blossoms for young Gerry, her sisters foolishly try to hold up aclub belonging to notorious gangster Duggie Ord (Corin Redgrave). The robbery goes tragically awry, and once Duggie learns the identities of the would-bethieves, he exerts his considerable pressure on love-lorn Gerry tomake amends.
Tired of her criminal lifestyle, she vows to go straight, planning one finaljob that will net the family enough cash to pay off their debts and to flee the country.
Nicole, Natalie and Melanie evidently have all been taking lessons from the Bianca Butcher school of Queen Vic English, perfecting abrasive accents that would be right at home in Albert Square.
Of the trio, Melanie Blatt emerges with most of her dignity intact, displaying a quiet vulnerability and sweetness as naive Jo who reluctantly goes along with her sisters' plans for the sake of family unity.
Natalie as the wild and incendiary Mandy is required to do little more than remove her top for a frenetic sex scene in a bike shed, while Nicole makes for apleasingly sassy romantic lead (Sensitive Saint).
Unfortunately, she is partly responsible for the film's most excruciating scene, in which Gerry learns the truth about her mother's death. When she utters the soon-to-be-immortal line: "What ya sayin'... that our muvva... was murdered?'', it's almost impossible not to break out into uncontrollable sniggering.
Stewart goes to town with his direction, throwing every conceivable trick atthe screen. Gerry and Daniel's dalliance with cup-cakes spiked with hallucinogens, gives rise to a good 20-30 minutes of trippy overkill: swirling naked bodies, strobing lights and distorted faces and backdrops.
The ending feels horribly misplaced, transferring the action to the French countryside for a final showdown between the Chases and embittered dealer The Hawk (Sean Giller). The film would have wound up just as well (or as badly,depending on how you look at it) in the country lanes of this fair isle.
Leaving the cinema, my abiding feelings about Honest were summed up all too well by the words of the All Saints themselves: "Never ever have I ever felt so low..."
