Lock & Stock - Pazzi scatenati

Incredibly funny and entertaining story of four young "criminals" out for big money. This is one of the most intelligently written stories I've ever seen. If you like to write screenplays, let this one take you for a spin. Very fast paced film with great editing techniques and a hilarious cast and storyline thats sure to entertain, as long as you can handle the accents. Great cinematography as well. This story will send you through a cork screw. See it once, then see it again to see what you missed.

This is one seriously funny movie. I've probably seen it close to 10 times and it hasn't gotten old yet. Guy Ritchie brings us a hilarious look into the London criminal underground in one of his earliest features. The story revolves around four friends who become indebted to the local crime lord after a card game goes horribly wrong. The humor in this movie is sharp and fast-paced. At times, it becomes a little hard to keep up with the thick British accents and the cockney rhyming slang but overall, it doesn't detract from the movie. The movie keeps you guessing as to the outcome when the story becomes complex with multiple lies and double-crosses but the ending satisfies.

This film marks the debuts of two of England's coolest new actors: Jason Statham (who went on to do 'Transporter', among other movies) and Vinnie Jones (now a familiar cinema tough guy). Jones is especially good as Big Chris, debt collector/family man. The majority of the cast aren't common faces in America (aside from Sting) but they all have the charisma to keep the audience interested. Another plus is the film's soundtrack, ranging from reggae to 70's soul. It adds to the movie's already laid-back feel.

Everyone I've seen the movie with enjoys it (once they get past the thick accents, anyway) so I can say with confidence this is a fun movie. I recommend it to anyone looking for a good comedy and I feel this movie's humor hits more often than it misses. I'd recommend giving this movie a chance at least once and I don't think you'd be disappointed.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is about four London class act stiffs who put their money to a test in a card game until things end up horribly wrong as they owe half a million pounds within a week to come up with the cash. The movie is by all means, enjoyable. The characters are all likable and their sense of humour makes the movie tick up a notch. I found myself laughing a couple times in the film to the jokes. All the actors played their parts pretty well, but my favorite character of the film had to go to Big Chris as Vinnie Jones. He was the most entertaining and how he was always correcting his son if he ever made any mistakes was priceless. The dialogue was really well done by Guy Ritchie, as well as his directing. What I noticed about the movie, was how much it was alike to the 1992 film, Reservoir Dogs. Lock, Stock had colorful characters, robbery that ends up bad, unexpected tragedies, good screenplay as well as directing by one person, and a good sense of humour. All those resemble to Reservoir Dogs, it's not even funny. Overall, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a good and entertaining comedy/crime film that shows a good future to Guy Ritchie aka "The Next Quentin Tarantino", to many. Although it's not up to par with Reservoir Dogs, I still enjoyed it and will be paying a lot of attention to Guy Ritchie's films. I recommend it.

Hedeen's Outlook: 8/10 *** B

Best comedy in years, friend turned me on to this hilarious comedy of errors and glad she did. The film is damn near flawless, forces you to pay attention to the twists and turns through it's witty dialogue. Wonderfully photographed with brilliant camerawork but not overdone. Worth several sittings and we could learn alot in Hollywood from this one....

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels features a lot of local slang and Cockney accents and, while it is far from impossible to comprehend, you will be doing yourself a favour if you follow the dialogue in subtitles. In fact, even the unbearably annoying 'hard-of-hearing' option is welcomed. It follows a group of four very "working class" blokes as they try to help their friend Eddie (Nick Moran) get out of an enormous debt he amassed one night, playing high-roller with a local gang-boss that cheated. The lads resort to illegal ways to get the money, like ripping off their pot-selling next-door neighbours.

This is a really excellent film—entertaining; funny, exciting, and extremely realistic. The style is gorgeous. In fact, I have nothing bad at all to say about it except that it may not be everyone's cup of tea. You also have to be patient with it. That may have been my problem the first time I saw it because I can remember mixing up quite a few people when not paying attention.. Still, the realism of the situations make up for its occasionally slow pace and dialogue-driven plot. For instance, none of these working-class guys know how to handle a gun when they need to, and the result is hilarious. They're not goofy by any means, but they're just normal guys that struggle with the life of crime that they are forced to turn to in order to repay Eddie's debt. Also note the fantastic use of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" by The Stooges. 8/10