Mad Dogs(US)

A reunion in Belize ought to give a group of old friends a break from their disappointments. Mad Dogs, in its American version, instead puts those disappointments in an expensive house and adds a developing criminal problem.

The ensemble is the appeal. Michael Imperioli, Steve Zahn, Romany Malco and Ben Chaplin give the friends different ways of responding badly to pressure. Familiarity does not make them effective partners; it gives them better material for blaming each other.

The tropical setting makes the deterioration funnier and more uncomfortable. They are somewhere that was supposed to make them feel successful, while their actual ability to manage the situation is rapidly being exposed. The story can be far-fetched, but the wounded pride is recognisable.

This is darkly comic crime television rather than a realistic travel nightmare. If you like ordinary relationships becoming a liability during a cover-up, Guilt offers a tighter Scottish variation. Mad Dogs is broader, hotter and more interested in an entire group discovering that none of them has a particularly good plan.