Monkey Business

Ah, the miracle of marital bliss. Birds are singing, lambs are frolicking, flowers are, well, flowering and Mr and Mrs Michael Douglas simply can't get enough of each other. So much so, in fact, that the loved-up pair have signed on to follow up Traffic by taking on second project together. The curiously titled Monkeyface, will see Mr and Mrs Douglas embroiled in a racetrack heist for Dirty Pretty Things director, Stephen Frears. Rather than a disparaging stab at either of the film's leads, Monkeyface actually refers to a particular racehorse; the relevance of said animal remains a mystery but the film will see the pair attempting to knock off a racetrack with the odd bit of romance and obligatory dash of double-crossing thrown in to the mix. You'd be forgiven for thinking that this all sounds a bit like ground that Frears has covered before, and you'd be right. 1990's The Grifters was a similarly horse-related tale of criminal skulduggery but Monkeyface looks to be taking a look at the lighter side of trouble at the track. After having appeared together on the billing if not the actual screen in Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, this will be the first time that Douglas and his blushing bride have had the chance to strut their stuff together. Just pray to whatever god you hold dear that their cloying togetherness doesn't turn this tale of crime and betrayal into a slobbering smoochfest