Just Like the Movies

There's a lovely mix here of deadly gangsterism and farce with a great deal of play between styles and conventions. Andy likes to see her own family as gangsters, but then she becomes caught up in the real thing and has no trouble adapting and proving herself the match for all the men who attempt to take over or defeat her. It manages to be a fast-moving thriller with lots of touches of humour in its detail and reversals. And Andy is finally a girl who may, Gatsby-like, preserve her romantic vision in the face of the dully real.