Two businessmen meet in an abandoned restaurant of the old rococo hotel their staying and decide to take a walk in order to find booze and food. One is English and the other one is American but their surnames are similar if translated
They start walking in the streets of Liverpool, often stopping in bars and restaurants but never being able to put a bite in their mouth. They are continually talking about society and politics and economy. Sometimes they get along with each other, sometimes they don't. Anyway, from a point on, their walk takes a surrealistic turn
Alex Cox obviously directed this movie just to keep busy. The screenplay feels written by some smart-ass looser who thinks he is Samuel Beckett. Subtlety is nowhere to be found. The cinematography is atrocious. It's a film full of pretense. Cox thinks he makes an important social statement when in fact his view is banal and childish. He tries to experiment, but he fails, not only because he has produced an ugly film, but because he doesn't understand that experimental cinema is meant to take the art a step further. It's not meant to be used as a cheesy effect. Well, he doesn't seem to understand the substance of experimentation just like he didn't seem to understand the substance behind cult when he made Repo Man. He thinks he's above that stuff and he can easily use them to do whatever he wants. That's the reason why he never gets into the whole thing. Experimentation though, is not easy. It requires true vision, not some pretentious need to just differ. It also requires knowledge of the medium and while Cox has that knowledge, he uses it just to prove that he can do it too.
But to be fair, there are moments where the whole joke seems to work and actually provoke some laughs (mostly because of the performances). The scene, in which the two businessmen meet while waiting for the waiter in the restaurant, is well shot (and terribly light) and is maybe the only proof that Cox is a good director.