Lame attempt to make an MTV/Witty Mob film

Rating: 1/10 (1 September 2001)

Not only is this film vastly overrated, it's just plain bad. The story-line itself is tired. The manner in which the jokes are made for the viewer is along the lines of "Pulp Fiction". A lot of the humor in Tarantino's film has grown stale over time, but this movie is even worse. "Pulp Fiction" at least has some fresh lines, and the actor's are more believable as criminals. Guy Ritchie's effort seems as if he wants to become the European heir to Tarantino. He plays all too hard to try for the pop-culture youth demographic. This takes away from the film. All throughout it emits the feeling of a director looking for his Muse; but he can't find one so he ends up trying to imitate Scorsese and Tarantino - but convert them "hip" to young Anglo culture. The editing is wretched. When I first saw this film over in the British Isles I could tell it was directed by some young hot-shot who used to make music videos and was trying to hand at feature-length film - but using the same video techniques he employed in his previous works. It's choppy and stupid. If you want to see a film made with real insights of the crime underworld, which also contains genuine moments of laughter see "GoodFellas" or "Mean Streets". This movie is a waste, and in due time people will realize that it's pop-culture feel is paper-thin and no longer wears well.