Disappointingly, Circus has nothing to do with overly-long trapeze acts, custard battles or a group of ten elephants standing on one tiny up-turned bucket. It would probably be better if it did, not because it would be any more entertaining, but because it would at least make some slim degree of sense.
John Hannah plays the lead role of Leo, a Scottish crim who, alongside American ladyfriend Lily (Famke Janssen), is in the process of planning one last scam in order to make his fortune and spend the rest of his days on some tropical paradise or other. The trouble is, in order to make the whole thing run smoothly, he has to first get past a series of gangland neer-do-wells, including underworld uberlord Bruno (Brian Its a puppet Conley), gun-totin redneck Elmo (Fred bloke from Tremors who isnt Kevin Bacon Ward) and camp racing tipster Troy (Eddie we like you better doing stand-up Izzard).
The film will certainly succeed in holding your attention, what with all the dirty dealing and triple-crossing thats going on. But that one strength is also its main weakness it gets far too tied up in wanting to be clever, and as a result degenerates into yet another poor mans Pulp Fiction. In fact, a better description might be to call it a serious A Fish Called Wanda.
Another massive problem is the casting, which looks excellent on paper but turns out to be hugely flawed when it actually comes to seeing the actors doing their thing. Brian Conley, try as he might, is NOT a threatening character. Neither, for that matter, is Eddie Izzard. Even John Hannah, fine actor though he is, struggles to come across as the sort of man who even a small child would find remotely frightening. All I can say is its a good job Christopher Biggins is in it, otherwise the entire film might have been a complete loss.