Predictable but fun tale of adultery, murder, revenge

Kill Me Three Times, a satirical nouveau-noir (a poor, jaundiced, derivative relative of the neo-noir) about adultery, murder, and revenge that's one-part Double Indemnity, one part Coen brothers, and a third part pure hokum, is not a great film. Or particularly good. In fact, it's fairly bad as B-movies go.

But don't let that ruin a good time.

Australian director Kriv Stenders' irony-plated thriller is a prefab job that uses some very good photography, solid acting, and lovely, verdant Aussie scenery to repackage a series of well-trod tropes, classic noir cliches, and predictable plot predicaments.

Even the surprise twists are fully expected and easily anticipated.

But, well, it's rather fun.

Divided into three sections - one for each of the three killings mentioned in the title - Kill Me Three Times features popular Aussie TV star Callan Mulvey (Rush, Bikie Wars) as Jack, a well-to-do bar owner with anger-control issues who is convinced he's being two-timed by his wife, Alice (the never-less-than-sizzling Alice Braga).

What's a paranoid, abusive hubby to do? Have her rubbed out by a psychotic English private eye/assassin. Played by Simon Pegg, of course!

Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) has an ability to be funny even in bad movies that's well-nigh supernatural. Yet here, he just tries too hard to do the vicious-but-lovable-killer thing.

While Jack draws up a plan of attack, Alice schemes to rob him blind and run away with the local gas station's studly full-service pump operator, a buff, hot dude as dreamy as Chris Hemsworth - and played by Liam's less-famous brother, Luke.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town . . . degenerate gambler and milquetoast dentist Nathan (Strike Back he-man Sullivan Stapleton playing against type) and his sexy ice-queen wife, Lucy (Teresa Palmer), plan to use Alice in a perverted, murderous insurance scam.

All parties and their various plots crisscross - and we end up with a lot of cross-killings.

Kill Me Three Times is droll, quirky, and appealing enough. It's the kind of flick you'd stay up to watch while flipping through channels late at night. Is it worth $30-plus in tickets, snacks, and gas?

Hmm.

Directed by Kriv Stenders. With Simon Pegg, Sullivan Stapleton, Teresa Palmer, Alice Braga, Callan Mulvey, Luke Hemsworth. Distributed by Magnet Releasing.

Running time: 1 hour, 30 mins.

Parent's guide: R (violence, sexuality, some nudity, profanity).

Playing at: Ritz Bourse.

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