incoherent, smart alecky gangster picture

Rating: Null/10 (27 January 2002)

With `Snatch,' it would appear that the films of Guy Ritchie can now be officially consigned to that dubious category known as `an acquired taste.' Having enjoyed his previous work, `Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,' I guess I can say that I acquired that taste to at least some extent a few years back. Now, having endured his most recent film, `Snatch,' I can safely say that I have `unacquired' it since.
`Snatch' is a muddled, incoherent mess of a film, filled with plot mechanics and an assortment of characters so inscrutable as to leave the audience, first, confused, then, indifferent and, finally, downright hostile. I refuse to even attempt to cope with unraveling the complexities of the plot here, since Ritchie himself obviously couldn't be bothered with doing so himself. Suffice it to say that it has something to do with a bunch of foreign and homegrown mobsters in England vaguely involved with Brad Pitt as an amateur Irish gypsy boxer.
With all the conflicting accents emanating from the mouths of the characters, fully a third of the dialogue is downright indecipherable Moreover, Ritchie is so busy indulging in his trademark camera and editing tricks that all hope of keeping up with the action disappears five minutes into the movie. The flashy, hyperkinetic visual style is too cute by half, but even that is not nearly as cloying as the insipid attempts at trendy humor that pepper the criminals' lame interactions with each other. As to Brad Pitt's agreeing to appear in this film, I have a few suppositions: he did it as a favor to the director; he just couldn't resist the temptation to show he could pull off an accent for an entire film; or he had a hankering to return to the boxing arena after having gotten into such good shape for `Fight Club.' Whatever the reason, even Pitt is unable to rescue this dreadful affair.
(For those who care, yes, Madonna does make it onto the soundtrack of the film).
`Snatch' is little more than an irritating, annoying and off-putting exercise in directorial self-indulgence.