Electric Slide is loosely based on the life of furniture salesman turned thief Eddie Dodson. An action-crime film, it is an interesting modern take on the classic film Bonnie and Clyde.
The real Eddie Dodson became a Hollywood playboy who robbed 64 banks between July 1983 and February 1984 – including six on one day. He served almost 10 years in prison, was released and a few months later was offered a job as a house-sitter by Jack Nicholson. Unable to stay clean from drugs, Eddie started robbing banks again and was once again arrested. He served 40 months, was released a second time in October of 2002, and died in February of 2003 of liver failure.
The film does not cover his whole life, but instead focusses on his initial spree of robberies.
Deeply in hock to a gangster (a virtually unrecognisable Christopher Lambert) due to his increasingly expensive drug habit, Eddie decides to take up bank robbing to pay his debts. Instead the money goes to fund his extravagances.
Selecting only the cutest of female bank tellers, he charms them so much that they become virtual accomplices. Before fleeing with the money one of them has just handed over, he stops to turn around and ask, “Has anyone told you that you look just like Jacqui Bisset?” He later whispers to another, ‘You’re perfect.”
To quote an old adage “Crime does not pay” and Dodson has to face up to his crimes.
What could be a clever take on a crime film, Electric Slide just does not deliver the goods, if you’ll pardon the pun. The period is the 1980s, however there were many costumes and accessories that were straight out of the 70s.
The performances were understated for a film billed as action-crime. The title role was originally offered to Ewan McGregor however is played by Jim Sturgess. Sturgess is so laid back he is scarcely believable. His co-star Patricia Arquette does not fare any better. There is little chemistry between them and the movie seems to plod along at a slow pace for this film genre.
Christopher Lambert’s gangster character is a caricature but does serve to pace the film up. A series of all-too-brief appearances by Kate Micucci (of The Big Bang Theory fame) as the bank teller charmed by Dodson provides the highlights of the film. Her facial expressions and large expressive eyes light up the screen.
Director Tristan Patterson seems to have allowed this film to meander along with very little light and shade.
I did enjoy the countdown screens (from 10 to 1) that tried to help build the tension – a clever idea, particularly at the end when Dodson descends a staircase that is the same colour as the screens to signal the climax of the film.
Electric Slide is a film that promises much, but unfortunately this is a promise that is not kept.
Reviewed by Barry Hill
Twitter: @kinesguy
Rating out of 10: 6
Electric Slide will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on 20 April 2016.
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