Accidental Love

An accident with a nail gun leaves a small-town waitress (Jessica Biel) with a bolt in her brain, prompting bizarre personality swings, in this political satire-cum-farce that was hamstrung with a troubled production history. Originally filmed back in 2008 under the title Nailed, it was subsequently disowned by Silver Linings Playbook director David O Russell, who's credited here as Stephen Greene. That backstory certainly delivers curiosity value. While the result is wildly uneven in its madcap wit, the central thrust, in which a thoroughly game Biel travels to Washington to seek a change in the healthcare laws, at least has some purpose in pointing up the foibles of the political classes when it comes to health provision for ordinary folk. Still, given that Biel's travelling companions are a clergyman suffering from priapism and an ex-weightlifter living with a wrecked rectum, we're definitely not in Frank Capra territory. Catherine Keener's Machiavellian senator is a comic standout, otherwise the film is strained and messy - but bonkers enough to keep you watching.