Too much of everything

The Age of Commercialism

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Being Scottish, and being from Glasgow, I had to see this movie.It has the feel of a 'modern sweeney todd', in this case a bumbling and hapless accidental sweeney todd, who somehow spontaneously kills people, often just by touching them. The strange accidents that result in the deaths of his co-workers are definitely some of the least believable murders I have ever seen.All of this accomplished by Hollywood's 'New Favorite Scottish Actor', - Robert Carlyle, Bobby, who appears to be the go-to guy for a Scottish character lately (Ewan Mcgregor sighs and thanks him)Saving the day is Emma Thompson, as usual. I would rate this role by Emma as Oscar worthy and one of her best. She absolutely NAILS the old Glasgow biddy as Bobby's ma, with a wee bit o spark left in-er, and the laughs are frequent every time she is on screen and pulling off a flawless guttural lower-class Glaswegian accent.The movie begins as a dark comedy, with bumbling inspectors in not so hot pursuit of a serial killer in Glasgow that is chopping up it's victims and mailing them to loved ones. As our hapless and clutsy barber, who just seems to get people killed by accident but is not the serial killer, slowly clues in to the horror that the real killer may be his own mother, the truth about how little his mother loves him and his dubious parentage take the movie down a real depressingly dark side road we really didn't need. At this point we just want to vomit along with Bobby, and the ending has little uplift to our depressed hearts.This movie could have been so much more, the Scottish version of 'Hot Fuzz' for example. But instead of going for the laughs, like a true Glasgow bully, it smashed the beer bottle and came at us to give us a 'Glasgow Grin'. Gutted after watching this. Gutted.

This is a funny noir comedy, well made with an excellent cast. I really like Carlyle so I could not be completely impartial.It is a film that gives you some laughs, but it does not let you to yell to miracle. I don't see it as a cult movie (like could be "The Full Monty" to me) as I have read here in the comments. It needed something more.The actors and the dialogue are the masters here, but also the scenery, the photograph is taken care of. It is well packaged but the plot is not very thorough, it might have been better use the element of surprise and a few more dialog jokes would not hurt at all too. It is not very exciting and it feel like a little flat.In any case, the movie has managed to put a smile on my face from beginning to end giving me a few very good laugh.A good debut for Carlyle as a director with some space for improvement.It should be 7/10 to me.

Looking for a film which isn't sat on a picket fence, or a CGI squeezed bag of eye hurt, then this could amuse you for the 90 minutes. Don't forget to plug the Scottish babel fish in before the film starts. Emma Thompson plays a perfect cemolina...Ray Winstone...plays Ray Winstone. There were some stereotypical 70's remarks linked with the typical regional British profiles....But Was he in The Bill or what?.. Anyway, nice start to Begsbies directors career. And the dark side of comedy was a challenge. Interesting, quirky, with a few guffaws, the speed is in tempo with the story, which sort of becomes 'gifted on a plate'. It's far from the trainspotting of old, and a fresh view on a little corner of madness. Worth a watch even if it is only for Emma Thompson showing why she is a great of the screen.

I watched this in a cinema and there was a lot of laughter coming from the audience. One man even laughed at the first line. The laughing continued throughout.I would have given the film 10 stars but the story is a bit ridiculous. But, since it is comedy, and IS funny this didn't seem to matter too much. The ending was amusing too. The film is beautifully shot and the acting is 1st class. My favourite line delivered brilliantly by Emma is "I label everything." And I agree with another reviewer that in the future, this may be considered a cult classic.