One Last Deal

Jimmy Banks is an old school agent who desperately needs to get his star player one last big payday before Jimmy’s life, and his client’s reputation, comes tumbling down.

As I watched this, I wondered if perhaps it might have made for a better stage play for Danny Dyer, rather than a film? He’s the unscrupulous football agent “Jimmy Banks” whose only client is presently up before an High Court jury on charges of rape. He has managed to secure a lucrative long-term contract for his charge, but obviously that depends on him being acquitted. Meantime, his grown-up daughter calls him to suggest he take her out for her birthday - which he’d forgotten, and so we learn that his inconsiderate behaviour isn’t just restricted to his professional life. She is best friends with a bright young player called “Jerome” and so “Jimmy” offers to find him a dream position in Madrid. Even more cash! Then he gets a call from a mysterious blackmailer who appears to have audio recordings that could ensure that not only will his errant footballer go to jail, but that his involvement in a cover up might see him destined to follow. As he vacillates between arrogance, cockiness and then booze-fuelled panic, the story unfolds… It is fairly obvious who is behind the threatening calls as there are clues a-plenty for us to put 2 and 1.7 together - indeed the story itself is all a bit simplistically contrived. Dyer, though, is at the top of his game as his frequently found-mouthed “Jimmy” delivers a gamut of emotions for an hour and an half, as well as casting quite a few aspersions on the business of international football (nor soccer, you understand!). He’s a charismatic, if hardly versatile, actor who seems to be able to exude an odiousness here without actually crafting someone we hate, and there is a twist at the end that almost encourages us to a tiny degree of pity. I’m not so sure about the “didn’t know because you didn’t want to know” philosophy, but it’s certainly a powerful effort that is worth a watch.