The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMovie reviews

The Paddy Lincoln Gang

The Paddy Lincoln Gang | Movie review
4 August 2014
Matthew McKernan
Avatar
Matthew McKernan
4 August 2014

Movie and show review

Matthew McKernan

The Paddy Lincoln Gang

★★★★★

Release date

25th August 2014

Certificate

UPG121518 title=

Links

TwitterFacebookWebsite

The Paddy Lincoln Gang is a drama about an Irish punk-rock band. Rob McAlister (Dean S Jagger) is the frontman of the band, stuck with a difficult decision to make about the future after a disastrous meeting with a top record label. Steady Eddie (Joseph DiMasso) and Rick (Richard Wagner) – the drummer and the bass player – are getting lazy and uncontrollable, and the label have decided to drop the band unless Rob and songwriter Tom (Demetri Watkins) get rid of Eddie and Rick. Rob is also dealing with his own dark past, that threatens to explode at any moment.paddy_lincoln_gang

Not knowing anything about the film is probably not recommended. The film’s opening is reminiscent of a horror film, though the majority of the film plays out as a simple drama. It was probably intended to give the audience a sense of unease but, unfortunately, it gives across an unfocused feel. Almost its entirety feels like build-up, and it never really delivers. Instead, the majority of the film is taken up with Rob and Tom’s dilemma – what to do about Eddie and Rick – and is merely a tame drama about loyalty and music. It is tacky, full of lines about following your heart and letting the music take control – the kind of self-dramatising typical of films about musicians. Glen Matlock has a rather terrible cameo.

It doesn’t help that an opening monologue establishes that the band members are pretty unlikeable. Eddie and Rick have few character traits beyond their hedonism and misogyny, while Rob is almost entirely passive. Tom is so shy that it is difficult to imagine him hanging around with these people. There is a long sequence in which the band – apparently the hottest new band to break America – is interviewed for television, but it is wholly unconvincing and awkward.

Eventually, there is a twist near the end, which should tie the film together but instead introduces a totally different – and much more misogynistic – turn to the film. The finished piece could be interpreted, begrudgingly, as a story about the pains of the creative process, but really it just seems to be a cheap, tacky drama about loyalty. It is a fairly bland story, messily told with undeveloped characters. The actors are fine, but the film needs a little more thought.

★★★★★

Matthew McKernan

The Paddy Lincoln Gang is released nationwide on 25th August 2014.

Watch the trailer for The Paddy Lincoln Gang here:

Related Items2014bandblanddramamoviemovie reviewmusicreviewthe paddy lincoln gang

More in Movie reviews

Eiffel

★★★★★
Diletta Lobuono
Read More

Nope

★★★★★
Selina Sondermann
Read More

Fadia’s Tree

★★★★★
Marissa Khaos
Read More

Prey

★★★★★
Selina Sondermann
Read More

What Josiah Saw

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Luck

★★★★★
Guy Lambert
Read More

Maisie

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Bullet Train

★★★★★
Matthew McMillan
Read More

Thirteen Lives

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Matthew McKernan

The Paddy Lincoln Gang

★★★★★

Release date

25th August 2014

Certificate

UPG121518 title=

Links

TwitterFacebookWebsite

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Nope
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Ed Fringe 2022: Hungry
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Eiffel
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Tips for creating a peaceful home
    Feature of the week
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Rita at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Ed Fringe 2022: Hungry
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “Even people who’ve been through adversity might say ‘Well, I wouldn’t change anything because I wouldn’t be who I am'”: Eva Noblezada and Flula Borg on Luck
    Cinema & Tv
  • “Film offers a way of looking at the past, the present and the future simultaneously. That’s its wonder”: Sarah Beddington on Fadia’s Tree
    Cinema & Tv
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Rita at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “Even people who’ve been through adversity might say ‘Well, I wouldn’t change anything because I wouldn’t be who I am'”: Eva Noblezada and Flula Borg on Luck
    Cinema & Tv
  • Nope
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Five Days at Memorial
    ★★★★★
    apple
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Dessa Rose at Trafalgar Studios | Theatre review
All This Mayhem | Movie review