Usually,
Hope-level diamonds have disappointingly prosaic names, often referring to
their place of origin. The “Pink Panther” is fictional, but the “Martian Pink”
is a real enough outlier that sounds so romantic, you’d think jewel thieves
would always be trying to steal it. The “Blue Iguana” is that kind of rock. It
has already been stolen, so a motley crew of Yanks and Brits might as well
steal it again in Hadi Hajaig’s Blue
Iguana (trailer
here),
which opens this Friday in New York.
Just
plain Eddie and his pal Paul Driggs should not even be allowed to travel to
London, because they are parolees, but Katherine Rookwood can be very
persuasive. She needs them for a simple hold-up job, but it gets complicated
when somebody dies. It really wasn’t their fault—honest. However, both Rookwood
and the Yanks both sort of double-cross each other, but at least she also prevents
her gangster employer Arkady from putting a hit out on them, at no small financial
cost to herself.
With
nothing to show for their efforts so far, Rookwood, the Yanks, and their
British accomplices decide to double-down on an even bigger score: the Blue
Iguana. A Middle Eastern prince gave it to his hard-partying Euro wife, before giving
her the boot. To get back into the royal family’s good graces, she needs to show
the stone is safe and secure. Of course, she lost it long ago, but it looks
like Arkady is planning to sell it back to her. Rookwood and company would like
to fulfill that deal instead.
Despite
a rather high body-count, Blue Iguana is
a likable caper film that draws tremendous energy from its two leads. Granted,
Eddie is rather gruff and grizzled, but he still represents an unusually light-comedic
character for Sam Rockwell. Frankly, he seems to be enjoying the change of
pace, but he is just as fully committed to the grumpy crook as he was to the
snarling indie rogue’s gallery he is known for. Likewise, Phoebe Fox is just
terrific as Rookwood, portraying her as a smart, mordant professional, who is
also necessarily idiosyncratic—hence the company she keeps. Their scenes
together crackle with electricity.
In
contrast, a little of Ben Schwartz as Driggs the man-child goes a long way. It
is also a bit disturbing to see Amanda Donohoe (from Lair of the White Worm) portraying the man-eating cougar mother of
Arkady’s thuggish enforcer, who is the focus of some smarmy humor. However, the
great Simon Callow classes up the joint in his scenes as Rookwood’s flamboyant
criminal Uncle Martin.
