Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

A lot of fun.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Not sure why this film gets trashed as much as it does, since it's pretty good. It's worth watching for the cast alone -- Basinger, Kilmer and Stamp. But it must be said that the British film upon which it's based is better. That would be Bellman and True (from an old English song) starring a cast of people that you probably never heard of, headlined by Bernard Hill as the computer geek who has to go along to keep his son safe. Bellman and True also serves as something of a time capsule, taking us back to a grotty, depressed and depressing London that is barely visible in British films any more. We can probably put the change in tone down to the Four Weddings effect. The comparison of these two movies serves as an excellent example of one of the more interesting questions of popular culture: why are the Brits generally so much better at movies that feature crime than Hollywood? Think of Cracker, State of Play, Prime Suspect, Behind The Lines, and Mobile.

I watched this film last night on DVD. I was very surprised that this was actually quite good, due to the average IMDb rating it has received. Though not a classic, it is however a very competent Crime Caper. The story is not especially original and Terence Stamp's accent is not good, going between a Georgian (USA) accent and English Cockney accent. The opening is good and reminiscent of Mission Impossible though "The Real McCoy" was made three years earlier. Basinger's Character however has been set-up and is caught by Police. We then join Karen (The Real) McCoy (Kim Basinger) as she is leaving prison after serving a six year stretch, she is trying to go straight and just wants to see her son (In the film she has been in Athens Womens Correctional Facilty - Kim Basinger was actually born in the town of Athens, Georgia in real life). The relationship she has with her son is very realistic and touching as Karen values her son above everything else, now that she has served time. Her ex however has told her son that his mother is dead. Val Kilmer comes into the film as incompetent hold up artist J.T Barker, he attempts to hold up a Mini Mart but bungles the job. The ammo falls out of his gun and in one of the funny scenes in the film, he picks up the ammo only to be confronted by the Shopkeeper holding his own larger weapon. The shopkeeper asks "where do you want your new asshole". Kilmer has to hot foot it out of there and drive off quickly.JT Barker later runs into Karen McCoy noticing her as she leaves a meeting with her Parole Officer wondering who the gorgeous blonde is. When he finds out it emerges that he is a big fan of her work and asks about her previous jobs. Their relationship takes off later in the film after her son is captured and held by Villain Jack Schmidt (Terence Stamp). I will not go into much more detail in case I spoil it for you guys.I do however recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a Crime Caper. Please bear in mind this is not meant to be extremely intelligent or have Oscar winning performances. If you do not take the film 100% seriously and watch it for fun, it is good entertainment. It is slick, undemanding, enjoyable and the performances are good and believable (aside from Terence Stamp who is not quite ruthless enough and his accent is not quite right as I stated earlier) the set pieces are not outrageous but realistic and believable in the context of the film. It is also watchable as a family film as it is not violent and there is no sex scenes. 7/10

This is the sort of film that will do if nothing else is on but not much else. Its a heist film with Kim Basinger and Val Kilmer and everything in it has been done before and done better. The bank robbery at the end is a bit of a let down because it just seems too easy. It was directed by the man who brought us the fabulous Highlander, but sadly also the truly awful Highlander 2, this film is somewhere in between. The only plus points are the always great to look at Kim Basinger, and Val Kilmer in a different sort of role to his usual stuff. I think Kim Basinger is a great actress but like most females in Hollywood seems to struggle to get decent films to star in, not counting the awesome LA Confidential of course. All in all a very average film ***5/10***

The Real McCoy has one of the most impossible storylines around. But how can you not love a movie which contains the line, "What's not normal about getting on a plane with your mom and going down to Rio with 3 million dollars?" Some parts, especially the set-up, are slow, but on the whole it's a great, implausible romp. It's also a must for Kilmer and Basinger fans.