Frauds *** (1993, Phil Collins, Hugo Weaving, Josephine Byrnes) – Classic Movie Review 3041

Writer-director Stephan Elliott’s 1993 Avengers-style fantasy comedy crime thriller stars a slightly struggling Phil Collins as Roland Copping, a sadistic insurance investigator who gets his kicks from manipulating people’s lives with outrageous games and gimmicks.

He starts playing a nightmarish game of blackmail in an escalating vendetta on a young couple, Jonathan and Beth Wheats (Hugo Weaving and Josephine Byrnes), who make an unusual insurance claim.

Frauds is a brave, maybe foolhardy, try at something different, but, after some good work, its intended childishness eventually just becomes juvenile and annoying.

Collins doesn’t really have the acting range to play a supposedly likeable, giggling psychopath, but talented actor Weaving manages enough conviction as the husband. Elliott does some sharp and flashy work in his directorial debut. But the most stylish element about the film is its clever and inventive set design work by production designer Brian Thomson, particularly on the neon-lit fun house where Copping lives.

Veteran actor Vincent Ball plays the judge. Detective Simms is played by Nicholas Hammond, Friedrich in The Sound of Music (1965) and the first actor to play Spiderman in a live action production.

Stephan Elliott is also the talented director of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), Eye of the Beholder (1999), Easy Virtue (2008) and A Few Best Men (2011).

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 3041

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