Director: Barnaby Thompson
Writer: Preston Thompson (Screenplay)
Starring: Olivia Cooke, Ben Hardy, Daryl McCormack, Chris Walley, Colm Meaney, Alec Baldwin
Plot: To avenge her mother’s death, Pixie masterminds a heist but must flee across Ireland from gangsters, take on the patriarchy, and choose her own destiny.
Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Pixie starts in the small Irish town where Pixie (Cooke) has been planning her escape from the town, putting together her new boyfriend and ex-boyfriend to steal a bunch of drugs from the church, only for the plan to go wrong.
Locals Frank (Hardy) and Harland (McCormack) find the drugs and are joined by Pixie in looking to get out of the town, with the gangster step-father Dermot O’Brien (Meaney) and Father Hector McGrath (Baldwin) hunting them down.
Thoughts on Pixie
Characters & Performances – Pixie is a young woman with a plan, a revenge plan and an escape plan. She must adapt to the change, with her sense of adventure taking her along with the two guys Frank and Harland to make the money and deal with her past. She is a strong lady who knows how to get what she wants from people and has been pushed into make this her only option. Olivia Cooke is a joy to watch in this leading role, where she demands to be the centre of attention throughout the film. Frank is the fast-talking cocky guy out of the pair, he will rush in quickly when troubles come out. Ben Hardy does give us the laughs with the other the top figure we get to meet in the film, working well with Daryl. Harland is the educated one of the two that hasn’t ever found himself getting into conflict, with this adventure pushing him well out of the comfort zone. Daryl McCormack does work well with Ben, giving us the reluctant one that can be pushed into things he doesn’t want to do. When we look at the supporting cast we get to see, we see the different levels of drug dealers, and people that Pixie is looking to work with or against. The supporting cast performances all help elevate their characters to have the moments which will be important to Pixie in her story.
Story – The story here follows Pixie as she looks to execute a plan to escape her life in Ireland by putting the people, she believes have crossed her to use, until things go wrong, and she meets two former classmates that will help on her adventure. This is a crime thriller adventure type movie, showing how one person will need to use everything that went against them as motivation to get more out of life. It does have a road trip feel to everything as we see the three get to look at life differently and maybe find their own reasons to change, as well as the typical look at the gangster figures in unusual environments.
Themes – Pixie is a comedy crime thriller that will take us through the beauty of the Irish countryside, giving us twists in the story, which will pit people up against gangsters, who are a mix of priests and old man looking to just be a family man.
Pixie is a fun adventure comedy where Olivia Cooke shines in the leading role and the importance of friendship coming through.
