Russell Brand Cast in Assassin Comedy Butterfingers

Variety has reported today that Russell Brand has been cast in an upcoming comedy named ‘Butterfingers’.

Brand will play the titular character, an assassin who goes by the name Butterfingers, who must complete a hit before his nemesis does. The only problem is he’s towing around two kidnapped kids with him, which could make it rather tricky to complete his mission. The film is directed by Barnaby Southcombe (I, Anna) and written by Tom Nash (Full Nelson, Percentages).

Not much is known about the project yet beyond the above (it doesn’t even seem to have an IMDB page at the time of writing), but if they can get the tone right and if the supporting characters are well-cast then this project could show a lot of promise. Russell Brand has a strong following and usually delivers (usually – the less said about Arthur the better), though his work lately has mostly been in supporting roles so it remains to be seen if he can recapture that Get Him to the Greek magic.

Crime comedies are usually well-received and it’s been a while since we’ve seen a funny assassin movie. That’s probably because murdering someone for money doesn’t tend to bring in the belly laughs, so it can be a bit difficult to nail the aforementioned tone. In Bruges was darkly hilarious but was mostly about the aftermath of an assassination, while Mr & Mrs Smith and Smoking Aces arguably focused more on the action than the laughs. There’s a Kevin James film called True Memoirs of an International Assassin that I haven’t seen, but from the trailer… yeah… I don’t think it’s a contender.

For my money the last good assassination comedy movie is probably 1997’s Grosse Point Blank, in which John Cusack’s character returns to his hometown for a job that coincides with his high school reunion. It got the laughs : action ratio just right and gave us characters we cared about. Hopefully Butterfingers will follow in its footsteps.

What do you reckon, readers? What’s your favourite assassin movie? Let us know in the comments!

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