BUSTER (1988) **1/2 There's a reason that love stories about criminals resonate with the general public. Not because we want to be criminals-for the most part we don't. We disapprove of the acts involved, to varying degree, but we understand that the system doesn't reward on the basis of virtue, ability, or even luck, either. We understand that the game is rigged towards conformity and complicity, and so we're pleased enough to see someone beat it, and willing to allow them to go considerably further to do so than we would allow ourselves. And then there's the reality that the system (capitalism, The Man, neo-liberalism, whatever) creates obstacles for us all-obstacles that don't exist, for whatever reason, for the favored ones who just happen to make the rules. Not that we don't help create the obstacles, for the most part we do, and not that they aren't usually easily enough to surmount, just that for most of us they appear to be noteworthy obstacles. So when you give us a teddy bear rendition of Phil Collins, flagrantly wallowing in his amusing variation of bloke-ishness, mainly just trying to keep his wife happy, we're happy enough to go along for a few hours and support the Great Train Robbery. Of course, most guys who plan robberies that almost necessarily will involve serious violence aren't quite as cuddly as the Phil projected, but we also have a general idea that all that cash didn't get there for the taking through unbridled altruism. Don't let the artsy Genesis era throw you, or the sop of his solo stuff, Phil has an authentic feel for the street and the gutter, and repentance. He's pretty good, actually, as is Julie Walters. Unfortunately they let Phil throw in a few of his songs, which doesn't entirely ruin things, but....in fact their comprehensive lack of substance, an offensive measure of calculated inoffensiveness, probably makes the entire thing more palatable for those who might otherwise experience difficulty digesting it. So, is it a situational ethics call to arms, in the service of Love? Not much, unfortunately, but the elements are there, just diluted, for popular and ineffectual consumption.
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