Cert – 18, Run-time – 1 hour 29 minutes, Director – Brendan Muldowney
Football agent Jimmy Banks (Danny Dyer) is finalising a deal for if his one client (Elliott Rogers) is found not guilty in a rape trial, whilst trying to secure another star client (Chip). However, a blackmail plot could stop his return to the big time.
One Last Deal should feel simple. Narratively it is. Stylistically it is. It’s 90-minutes of Danny Dyer pacing around a slightly dated office shouting at people on the phone. Yet, somehow it manages to lead itself into a tangle where as it switches focus between the different conversations that Dyer’s football agent Jimmy Banks is having.
Throughout the film we see him switch between two different phones and half the contacts in his phone. For business calls he goes hands free with a Bluetooth headset, for anything personal he just walks around with (or more often away from) his phone and still shouts. Much of what we see revolves around him trying to get back into the big time. His sole client, Matt Gravish (Elliott Rogers) is waiting for the verdict on his rape trial whilst Jimmy tries to secure him a lucrative deal in the insistent case of not guilty. Meanwhile, he’s also talking to rising star Jerome Sweet (rapper Chip), with whom he has turbulent history, about signing up to a major international team if he allows the agent to represent him.
On top of this there are conversations with his estranged daughter, lawyers, managers, accountants and more. Each playing out separately before eventually untidily tangling into each other for an overly bulky, and drawn out, twist. All unfolding on the hottest day of the year, we’re told in the opening that it’s 40 degrees in London and then throughout by the fact that everything is shot with the house lights turned all the way up, unless the moment is serious then darkness (or rather evening) arrives. Aside from this there’s little mention or feeling of heat over the 90-minute run-time.
Dyer gives a solid performance as the only actor on-screen, aside from some brief TV footage of sports news presenters who seem to have been pulled in from off the street and put in-front of a teleprompter as action was called. At times, particularly during an elongated dance interlude, as Jimmy gets a kick out of his ego or giddiness takes over David Brent comes out more than the very sweary character (the film is rated 18 for “very strong language”, purely down to the amount of c-bombs Jimmy drops) that seems to be written specifically for Dyer.
As more comes to light about Jimmy the more unlikable of a character he seems, and no amount of attempts to redeem him can really escape that, especially when they can largely feel quite last minute. It’s what makes the third act, which showcases some of the stronger elements of the film, feels more of a struggle to properly engage with. There’s already been an engagement issue for a while before this due to the divided up stages of conversations, and to some extent the amount of pacing through the room, creating a bland set of events. It’s hard to make a film such as this exciting, no matter how much intrigue and tension the narrative seems to be solely designed to create, and One Last Deal falters in that regard.
90-minutes of Danny Dyer pacing around a room shouting at people on the phone proves to be as engaging as it sounds. While Dyer is good, his character feels increasingly unlikable as his various conversations tangle into an overly bulky ending.
Just A Little Bit Random 