"it's just about bearable"

A sinking heart as you look at a film's poster isn't a good sign and the intensely boring opening sequences of Dead Man Running seem to confirm that i) Oscar winner Brenda Blethyn belongs nowhere near this and ii) a film executive produced by Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Cole contains as much lowest-common-denominator dialogue and obscene pursuit of wealth as you'd expect. 50 Cent, a man whose musical and entrepreneurial success has apparently occurred in inverse proportion to his charisma, nearly bores the viewer into submission as loan shark Mr Thigo, unconvincingly brandishing the Economist as he attempts to explain away kidnapping by citing the credit crunch. Or, as they probably don't call it at Harvard Business School, "this s**tstorm in the financial market".

The plot - ex-con made good Nick (Tamer Hassan) has just 24 hours to pay back a £100,000 loan to New York gangster Mr Thigo (Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson) or his wheelchair-bound mother (Blethyn) will come a cropper. With faithful friend Bing (Danny Dyer) in tow, Nick races from East London dog tracks to Mancunian crime dens in a bid to come up with the cash and save his dear ol' mum.

Thankfully, the wideboy charm of Tamer Hassan and the videogame skinniness of the plot - get lots of money or poor ol' mum gets it - means this is a brainless but unexpectedly enjoyable Brit thriller. Yes, its dialogue is laughably cartoonish - why use the word "taxi" when you can say "black rat"? - and it's aiming firmly for the Nuts market in its morally confused, hit-first-ask-questions-later approach. But with great work from Blethyn and Phil Davis, an engaging and likeable turn from Hassan and Dyer playing his stereotype for laughs, it's just about bearable.