The story follows protagonist Ben and gently unveils both his fascination with beauty and the movies eccentric feature - his ability to pause time. What sets Ben and Cashback apart from the countless other romantic comedies is its realness of life and people, which is a surprising contrast considering the constant full frontal nudity in the first 30 minutes.

Switching back and forth between his childhood, the story slowly reveals where his obsessive 'appreciation' of the female form comes from. The childhood scenes in their entirety were enjoyable and distracted from the numbing sense you couldn't quite grasp what Ben is trying to achieve and how the story wasn't flowing quite how you'd imagine it should do. His dialog is crisp and oddly poetic, by pausing time and undressing women he can capture their true beauty through a timeless medium.

'Women should be seen and not heard', pretty much sums up Ellis perverse representation of women through Ben. The opening a foreshadow to latter events where he inevitably falls prey to the same screaming yet silent love. The story creates cues which at first seem like nothing, but bloom into significance.

Eventually falling for co-worker Sharon (Emilia Fox), he merely shifts his obsession to his new muse. Even then his actual emotional involvement seems timid and appears slightly one dimensional. He's at times nothing more than a well spoken man struggling to understand women, love, life and to express himself through his art. A typical modern male!

Michelle Ryan is unrecognizable from her Eastenders background and deceptively beautiful in a way which sucks your attention away from anything else in the scene. Possibly why she's used so infrequently but to dazzling effect.

The men represent a palette of real life roles that we all understand and indulge every day. The over inflated ego of a boss, the gormless co-workers and the 'helpful' best friend Sean played by Shaun Evans. They're the ordinary, and the substance to the story. Contrasting the shallow yet captivating beauty in which the women are portrayed.

Brian's (Marc Pickering) entry to the movie is nothing short of hilarious, as is 'Jenkins' (Stuart Goodwin) entire dominant alpha male persona. The Gladiator parody felt awfully cringe worthy, but humorous nevertheless.

Although I can't imagine it will be as much fun for females, it's humor is witty and intelligent as opposed to American Pie's crudity and its moral realism is lasting unlike The 40 Year Old Virgin which felt clichéd. The scene where Suzy kisses Ben unaware that Sharon is watching personally touched me, not only because of the soundtrack (Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Power of Love) but just like the characters and dialog, it was real. A throughly enjoyable movie which reuses comedy traditions in a refreshing and unique way.

IMDb - Cashback