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11.02.2000

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flick pick | Lock, Stock and 
Two Smoking Barrels
1998
Directed + written by:
Guy Ritchie
Starring: Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones
Language: English
Look for it at the video store under: crime, drama, foreign [UK]
Watch it when you’re in the mood for something:  darkly comic, hip
The verdict: / 5 the rating system explained

Plot synopsis When East Ender Eddie talks his three best mates into pooling together their money for a very high-stakes poker game, he’s too naïve – or maybe just stupid – to realize that the scumbag neighborhood crime bigwig that he’s playing against, Hatchet Harry, is going to cheat. Not surprisingly, Eddie walks out of the game with a whopping £500,000 debt. Harry’s big lug of a henchman, Big Chris, informs Eddie that he can look forward to having his fingers cut off, one by one, if he doesn’t get Harry the money within the week. After tossing around various ideas in an effort to solve this problem, Eddie and Co. come up with a plan to rip-off their drug-lord neighbors, who are in turn plotting to loot a covert pot-producing operation. Meanwhile, Big Chris has a bit of a problem himself, in that the two men he’s hired to procure two very valuable antique shotguns for his boss have botched the job and lost the guns. By an astounding coincidence, the shotguns end up in the hands of one of Eddy’s friends, who just wants something to use for the raid on the neighbors. Head spinning yet? Well that’s just the beginning, as more complications ensue …

Review Stylish, darkly funny, and incredibly enjoyable to watch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels features a Tarantino-esque plot gone hilariously awry. Artsy-fartsy types will appreciate the über-hip clever camerawork – at one point near the beginning of the film, the camera zooms in, from the perspective of a pot on a stove, to reveal a funny little man peering into it, a prime example of the quirky, kinetic cinematography that plays a big role in keeping this film’s pacing so lively. But the real reason why this little British flick stands out from the rest of the Tarantino knock-offs is that it’s much more concerned with being entertaining than it is with being hip. The lowlifes that populate the film really are kind of losers, but it’s a riot watching them bumble along, their half-baked attempts at remedying their mistakes serving only to compound their problems. Half the fun is trying to make sense of the heavy Cockney accents – there’s even a very funny scene where a conversation rife with Cockney slang is subtitled in "regular" English – so be forewarned: this movie may require repeat viewings.
reviewed by
Yee-Fan Sun 

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