Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

 

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels 1998

• Director: Guy Ritchie
• Seen by this director: The Gentlemen, Sherlock Holmes 1&2
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, Steven Mackintosh, Sting
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jason Flemyng – Sunshine on Leith, I Give It a Year, X-Men First Class, Hanna, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Stardust, Layer Cake, From Hell
• Dexter Fletcher – Cockneys vs Zombies, Misfits, Layer Cake, Jude
• Nick Moran – Terminal, Harry Potter
• Steven Mackintosh – Rocketman, Robot Overlords, The Thirteenth Tale, The Other Boleyn Girl, Our Mutual Friend, Twelfth Night, Karaoke, Prick Up Your Ears
• Sting – Stormy Monday, Dune
• Why? Its reputation
• Seen:  24 October 2022      

       Its reputation is that it’s brilliantly hilariously funny. The superlatives know no bounds.

       One gang of small gangsters, another of weed producers, another of, oh, I don’t know, miscellaneous tough guys. Big poker game, big cheating, big debts, big violence.

       It’s compared to Tarantino. I suppose so. Only I like Tarantino, and this does nothing for me at all. It’s just a bunch of really stupid men doing really stupid things. Of the 46 listed in the cast, two are women, very far down on the list. They’re on the screen about three minutes and one of them has no lines.

       That kind of sums it up. It’s a guy film. The worst kind. Just because it’s Cockney doesn’t mean it’s cool. If you want Cockney, see Cockneys vs Zombies. That’s much funnier.

       Because the music is OK, and Sting is in it, and the last minute of the film was mildly humorous, I give it 

1½ * of 5