Warning! Probable Spoilers!
Love Honour and Obey features one of the most well rounded British casts I think I've ever had the chance to witness. Watching Johnny Lee Miller, Ray Winstone, Jude Law et al bouncing lines off each other is great to watch especially if you know they're all quite good friends and must of had a great time actually making this.
Here endth the good news. Well kind of. You see it can't quite decided whether to go for out and out comedy or take a darker tone. As a comedy there are a couple of moments which are very funny and a lot of moments that aren't.
Johnny is a courier who's highly dissatisfied with the lot life has given him especially when his best friend Jude is a member of a crime family that controls half of London headed over by his uncle Ray. Johnny wants into Judes way of life and reluctantly Jude helps him by introducing him to Ray. Johnny turns out to be quite the little gangster under Rays guidance and is soon one of the lads.
The lads spend most of their time hanging out, drinking tea and talking about sexual hang-ups (Great British institutions all) but Johnny isn't happy with this. His experience of gangsters is purely from the movies, he wants action and violence not tea and erectile dysfunction. He doesn't understand that all of the people in the gang have lived with violence all of their lives and try to avoid it unless absolutely necessary. Ray is getting married and is talking about becoming a farmer, another gang member wants to quit to start a family which Ray is quite happy with. So he starts provoking the gang that controls the other half of London into violence which as ever escalates into almost all out war.
You see the noble goals of this film, Gangsters are people too, Why can't we all just get along? aren't really explored as much as I'd like. And we're left with a superbly acted half comedy / half drama that doesn't really succeed in doing either.
Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill, Twin Town) is hypnotic as Johnnys opposite number in the rival gang pushed beyond sanity by Johnny's meddling.
However I would recommend this purely for the wealth of British acting talent on display.
It's no Lock Stock, but it never tried to be.
Love Honour and Obey features one of the most well rounded British casts I think I've ever had the chance to witness. Watching Johnny Lee Miller, Ray Winstone, Jude Law et al bouncing lines off each other is great to watch especially if you know they're all quite good friends and must of had a great time actually making this.
Here endth the good news. Well kind of. You see it can't quite decided whether to go for out and out comedy or take a darker tone. As a comedy there are a couple of moments which are very funny and a lot of moments that aren't.
Johnny is a courier who's highly dissatisfied with the lot life has given him especially when his best friend Jude is a member of a crime family that controls half of London headed over by his uncle Ray. Johnny wants into Judes way of life and reluctantly Jude helps him by introducing him to Ray. Johnny turns out to be quite the little gangster under Rays guidance and is soon one of the lads.
The lads spend most of their time hanging out, drinking tea and talking about sexual hang-ups (Great British institutions all) but Johnny isn't happy with this. His experience of gangsters is purely from the movies, he wants action and violence not tea and erectile dysfunction. He doesn't understand that all of the people in the gang have lived with violence all of their lives and try to avoid it unless absolutely necessary. Ray is getting married and is talking about becoming a farmer, another gang member wants to quit to start a family which Ray is quite happy with. So he starts provoking the gang that controls the other half of London into violence which as ever escalates into almost all out war.
You see the noble goals of this film, Gangsters are people too, Why can't we all just get along? aren't really explored as much as I'd like. And we're left with a superbly acted half comedy / half drama that doesn't really succeed in doing either.
Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill, Twin Town) is hypnotic as Johnnys opposite number in the rival gang pushed beyond sanity by Johnny's meddling.
However I would recommend this purely for the wealth of British acting talent on display.
It's no Lock Stock, but it never tried to be.