Tough laughs for strong stomach types.

Rating: 8/10 (5 October 2002)

Three separate parties try to get their hands on a stolen diamond in the back streets of London.
Oh Mr. Quentin Tarantino - just look what you have created. A thousand directors want to have a touch of your magic and judging by Jackie Brown you wouldn't mind a bit of it yourself.
Your star pupil - Guy Richie (Mr Madonna to friends) - demonstrates here that not only has he got a complete set of Tarantino and Martin Scorsese DVD's - he's also seen The Hot Rock (1972): A diamond that is easily stolen but hard to actually keep.
Richie is not a laugh-out-loud director more a guffaw-out-loud director as selfish and self-interested characters (all crooks to a man) play their cruel and violent game of cat-and-mouse. The black gang get the worse of it - getaway drivers that cannot even park, rob a bookmakers without money and then point guns with the word "replica" printed on the side.
(All the things that happen are based on real incidents that were captured on CCTV. Yes - including the one where a gangster gets his head caught in a rising security gate!)
Best of the ensemble cast is Bricktop (Alan Ford) the head gangster and fight fixer who over-articulates and explains everything to the rest of the cast: His explanation of how to dispose of bodies by way of pigs and how best to chop up bodies ("you need to chop them in to six pieces and gather the parts together in one place...") are a revelation.
(Strangely he reminded me of a character from a Noel Coward play. He manages to make even the most bland lines such as "you are not much use to me alive are you, Turkish?" and "hope I haven't come at an inconvenient moment" funny.)
Congratulations to Brad Pitt for playing a gypsy fighter that no one can understand (not even in the movie itself!) A real piece of casting inspiration.
We are deep, deep in black comedy land here and only by keeping it ticking over at a fast (almost pop video) pace can you get away with it. There is no real parts for women and no sex. The characters are far too interest in making a big score or staying alive for all that.
Brad Pitt plays a fighter that - if he was as good as he is here - would surely be boxing for real rather than in the bare-knuckle world; but what the hell, this is a film comedy. The fight scenes are well done by the way - although seem a lot like those that featured in BP's other black comedy Fight Club.
Snatch has must-see appeal to those with strong stomachs that cannot get enough of Pulp Fiction/Goodfellers smart-ass dialogue. Well done Mr Madonna - let us hope that the next feature is just as good. Then you will have made three great films to Tarantino's two.