Layer Cake

Layer Cake is a black comedy that is a good deal more comedic than black. Daniel Craig, not yet beefed up to play James Bond, is great as a mid-level drug dealer who is doing quite well and doing the smart thing: investing most of his money with a reputable broker, recommended by his boss, Jimmy Price, played by Kenneth Cranham. Craig's character is planning to use his investments to retire early, something he'll be announcing soon. But first there are a few loose ends. Jimmy Price's boss, occupying the very top layer of the multi-tiered ranks of big-city British drug dealing, wants his wayward daughter found and returned. She's fallen victim to the same sneeze-inducing white powder that makes them all rich, and she's split from rehab with her junkie boyfriend. Locating runaways is not Daniel Craig's thing, so he farms the job out to a couple of young friends, guys who spend a lot of their time very persuasively affecting a cultivated British accent because young American female tourists respond so much better to their affectations than to their natural working class patois. The guys are slick, smooth, glib and funny, and more effective at tracking down missing junkies, especially dead ones, than I had expected. Anyhow, by now you've got the plot, insofar as there is one: Daniel Craig wants to retire early and the rest of the movie consists largely of obliquely connected events, each one just another obstacle in Craig's way, and each one more hilarious than the other. Plot or no plot, this is Daniel Craig's best film, and the supporting cast is sensational. Every time I see Sally Hawkins, no matter what sort of role she's playing, I think of her as Slasher, a foul-mouthed, histrionic, gun moll and girl friend to one of the more inept characters with whom Craig has reason to deal. Colm Meany is also excellent. In his funniest scene, he beats Daniel Craig to a pulp atop an open freezer filled with filleted fish, thinking Craig has betrayed him. Hard to believe that 007 could get so badly battered by a middle-aged Irishman, who subsequently apologizes for his error. But, as we've already noted, this was before Craig beefed up. Craig's sidekick, Morte, played by George Harris, has an uproarious beating scene of his own, when he exacts revenge on a no-count jerk who's reckless over-indulgence cost Morte ten years in prison. He almost kills the guy! I know. I know. How can beating be funny? But even if you don't like violence, you've just got to laugh. Imagine the three stooges given the appearance and demeanor of 21st Century British sophisticates, but who are otherwise pretty much the same as always. You'll even laugh when you see a self-assured hit man take a hit himself from a bullet fired right through the scope of his rifle and into his eye. Hardly a sound. It takes a second or two before we figure out what has happened. Though advertised as an action-packed thriller, Layer Cake is really a vehicle for a series of loosely related, very violent, very funny, sometimes complicated scenes of the sort that Brits do so well. (Think of Rock'n'Rolla.) This is definitely not a film that takes itself too seriously, though the acting and comedic timing are as good as they get. The ending will prompt just about everyone watching to do a double-take and exclaim with total surprise "What the ... !!! Layer Cake is definitely a keeper. I've watched it a dozen times and still find it very entertaining. And be alert for the tension-relieving joke about an Irishman who found another man with his wife ...

Before he became the next James Bond, Daniel Craig delivers a strong performance as a low level drug dealer. This film is an international version of The French Connection, with so many twists and turns, you will be amazed that nothing is what it appears to be.

This is one of the most entertaining movies based on the Life of a Modern-day Drug Dealer that I've seen! I know actual Drug Dealers who study this movie to emulate Daniel Craig's character in the film it's that good! You won't be disappointed except by the tragic yet realistic ending of the movie which is "true to life!" Of a Criminal in that Underworld Professsion.

I wonder if Daniel Craig channeled this main character for his Bond because he is cool, smooth, and smart. But this is also a plot-driven film about a newly born drug king who accumulates what he wants -- and then wants out. O, but easier said than done. I'm finding it difficult to pick out parts that are especially well done -- almost everything is a spoiler! Let me just say this is not an ordinary crime story. Though there are groups fighting for exclusive rights to drug distribution, the emphasis is on the main character and his intelligent scheming as he plans his climb up the ladder. He is a businessman. His blood is cold. He does not lose his cool. There is great story-telling in this movie. And there's a twisty ending. Tom Hardy and other up and comers of the time are in this in small parts as well. You won't be disappointed with this movie.

Not your "James Bond" Daniel Craig role in this movie, which consists of a down and dirty melange of assorted thuggies and druggies in a complex tale of double and triple dealings in the "layered" London/Western Europe drug empire. Craig's role as "XXXX" starts out as an interloper/middle man for the London big-wig drug kingpins, which is a left-handed way of saying he keeps his hands clean of the normal day-to-day street operations and makes big cash as a squeaky-clean go-between for the money men. But the so called Mr. Big, Jimmie Price (Kenneth Cranham), has some additional work for our pristine college boy that most assuredly leads him into unsavory territories where he must get his hands dirty (and bloody). His normal crew of Clarkie, Mortie and Terry are now to include the likes of Gene, Duke, Slasher, Sydney etc., who comprise some the street riff-raff he has to associate with to carry out the boss' directives. Add to that, another big boss emerges who may, in fact, be the "real" Main Man. The local constabulary along with the Liverpool boys also have some pivotal involvement in this nefarious mix. What ensues is a complicated but engrossing tale of criminal crosses and double-crosses as the Serbs, the Liverpool boys and others in the London mob and law enforcement intersect one anothers' paths in this melodramatic tour-de-force. The layers of our metaphorical cake are eventually stripped aside and lead to a most dramatic conclusion. I don't think I'll see another crime film of this mettle for quite some time. The contributions by all involved in this project were realistic, poignant and entertaining. My only negative takes on the film are the occasional scenes of gratuitous violence that I, for one, can do without. That aside, if you like well paced and intelligent crime drama, this film is for you!

This is a grade A gangster/drug lords crime thriller casually honed with some black humor throughout. Read a few negative reviews about the foul language and sex scenes, but those folks should've figured this wasn't a Disney movie by its plot description. Says right in the details: Nudity, violence, substance use, alcohol use, smoking, foul language, sexual content. As to those complaining about the language barrier, the thick accents should also been expected given the all-UK presence, including the director and the author who wrote the screenplay based on his novel. Down voting a movie because you're too lazy to read what it's about, a little background perhaps, should not be allowed.

I love this movie plus it has a good soundtrack

It was OK, but I do like a movie that has at least some of the primary characters coming out on top. Well, some of the gang got ahead, and at the end it looked like the "boss" was going to head off into a new and happy life, and then, wham(!) the rug was pulled out. Sheesh, I would have hoped that the guy finally became free, and instead he became (probably) dead. The acting was good, but I have to admit that the English dialog was at times tedious to follow. I probably should have switched on the printed text to better follow. After the movie, I went to Wikipedia to read the plot outline; it still seemed weird.