Produced (bizarrely) by Tom Cruise, Statham plays an incarcerated con forced into the titular contest, where a collection of brutal thugs drive souped up death machines across a post-nuclear holocaust landscape, attempting to whack bystanders and each other for extra points along the way.

Sharp dialogue and strong dramatic chops lift it into very affecting territory. Great work from masters of the craft (Norton) and actors who've appeared in their fair share of duds (Voight and more recently Farrell) make it something special.

Zack and Miri is the bastard love child of Kevin Smith's work and stable of comedy king Judd Apatow — purely by reason of starring so many Apatow stars — and looks like it might offer the best of both worlds.