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Lock, Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels review
:. Director: Guy Ritchie
:. Starring: Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher
:. Running Time: 1:47
:. Year: 1998
:. Country: UK
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Sold under the moniker "The #1 Film in Great Britain", this high caliber comedy unfortunately turns out shooting blanks. Lock, Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels is nothing but a failed hybrid of Trainspotting & Pulp Fiction, or even Jackie Brown.
Judge for yourself: 4 loser friends, a pile of cash, a British Samuel L. Jackson, shoot outs that miss the target, and the dialogues…looooong dialogues that fizzle out. Don't expect to double over laughing, unless you force yourself so you look hip at the English comedy of the moment (That's the elite of Orange County for you.). Dig a little deeper and you'll uncover an insipid attempt to resuscitate French Noir films from the Tontons Flingueurs/Audiard period.
As for casting, it's far from brilliant, and will impress you as much as Sting as the tough owner of a dive bar. By the end of the movie it was still difficult to discern one "actor" from another. As for the Brit who looks to Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction as his role model, even Jim Carrey is capable of being more subtle.
Of course, not everything is a complete throwaway. A cinematography much like a music video, and some sparks of genious, as in a parody of Sergio Leone and a killer hippie girl still can't sweeten the bitter taste of 2 hours of boredom.
Fred Thom
 Movie Reviews: British Films
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