Shabandar is the target of the con, with Dean trying to get him to buy a lost work by Monet, which he has forged with the help of his friend. But to create a provenance, he needs the help of Cameron Diaz’s character – a brash, straight-talking cowgirl from Texas, who works plucking chickens in a factory. More importantly, the granddaughter of Captain Puznowski, a US GI who, at the end of the war, stormed the home of one Hermann Göring – also the last known resting place of Monet’s Haystacks at Dusk, the missing part of Shabandar’s collection of the Impressionists. If she plays along, and Shabandar bites, she’ll be handsomely rewarded to the tune of £500,000. What could go wrong?
Well, everything. It’s a comedy that derives its humour principally from capering and calamity, from constructing absurd situations and letting them play out. But these situations, ultimately, just aren’t funny enough. Seeing Academy-Award winner Colin Firth being stripped of his trousers and walking through the Savoy hotel in his underpants isn’t all that funny. It’s faintly embarrassing. There's some sexual innuendo but it's not really a risque comedy. Similarly, the slapstick, which mainly revolves around Firth being punched in the face and moving chairs, is intermittent. I'm not sure what type of comedy Gambit really wants to be, and this uncertainty stops it from ever really raising more than a weak smile.
The Coens' name has become synonymous with quality and shiny awards, but Gambit comes nowhere close to their best work. You've been conned.
Elsewhere, the chemistry between Firth and Diaz is off, just as it is between Diaz and Rickman. But it’s not really the fault of the talent involved; the script just isn’t good enough. For this type of comedy the dialogue has to be fast, but it’s flat and rarely sparkles. You'd expect more from the Coen brothers given their heritage, but you get the impression that Gambit is nothing more than a writing exercise for the pair, hence why they didn't direct it themselves. And a lot of this wouldn't be so bad but the film asks you to care about these characters when it's done nothing to justify that investment. Midway through the movie there's an attempt to flesh out Firth's character and there's an indication that romance might blossom between him and Diaz's crass cowgirl, but it's forced and rushed, and it feels like the film loses interest in its own characters. Furthermore, there's a revelation late on in the movie which changes the way you see the preceding 90 minutes entirely. It doesn't improve the film; it doesn't stand up to much scrutiny and looking back on the film, you just feel cheated. Lord Shabandar hasn't been scammed – you have been.“