Customer Reviews

All or Nothing (Widescreen)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Viewer-are you seriously trying to put me down based on the language that I use? My opinion is my voice, as your opinion is yours. I don't think we have to lower ourselves to insults here.
Please be more respectful of people next time you write a review, after all--wouldn't you like to have an accurate range for judgement of whether or not something is worth the effort?
It would seem to me that your disposition MAKES THIS MOVIE PERFECT FOR YOU. ENJOY.

What the hell?
My new movie is called "Meet The Miserables". What it is is Winter Of Our Discontent with a tacked on ending. It's all about what all these ugly english twits do to screw with their lives--very DRAMATICALLY! (weepy weepy weepy!) Guys-your gals'll love you for watching this movie with em, but by the end, you won't want them to. You won't want to be anywhere near them...

Just like all of Leigh's films, you commit to them and want to own them. This one however, has no real comic relief and frankly I couldn't shake the mild depression I developed while watching. Be careful, this a great movie but a real downer.

Difficult, but very much worthwhile ensemble piece from British director and all around film genius Mike Leigh.

The story, as it is, revolves around a group of people living virtually hand to mouth in a London housing project. The class consciousness of British society, as it so often is in Leigh films, is on full display here as is the absolute top notch acting another mainstay of Leigh movies.

This isn't the best movie in Leigh's cannon, but it speaks volumes about Leigh and his vision that even one of his "lesser" films still warrants five stars.

Granted, this movie is not for all tastes. It's virtually unrelenting look at the struggling working class of Britain can be bleak and troubling. However, for those who frequent the local art house, and those who have found themselves drawn to the previous work of Mike Leigh it is a must.

Timothy Spall and Lesley Manville are a common-law couple who work as a taxi drive and a grocery store checker respectively. They are raising two teenagers, a shy, bookish daughter who works as a janitor of a nursing home and a son who does little but verbally abuse his mother while he sits in front of the TV. Plot here is not the emphasis. Slice of life is.

Bleak as this scenario sounds (and it only scratches the surface) this is a film that rewards the patient viewer as the ending does offer a healthy dose of redemption. Along the way the acting shines (typical for Leigh films) with Spall, Manville, and Ruth Sheen as the friend and neighbor dealing with a pregnant teen age daughter turning in award worthy performances.

'All or Nothing' is a fascinating but disturbing portrayal of the lives of struggling working class people in a London tenement. It is a very thought provoking film and may lead to reflecting on your own life and on life in general. As with Mike Leigh's other films this is not very upbeat stuff, in fact this movie is probably more of a downer than the usual from him. The superbly acted characters are real hard luck cases and their lives seem utterly hopeless, so much so that I was expecting someone commit suicide at any moment. But at the same time their story is gripping and so realistic that you feel like a voyeur looking in on them. The ending while not exactly a happy ending provides a slight glimmer of hope but in keeping with the reality of the movie is not overly optimistic. If you like Leigh's other films you will not be disappointed by this one.

Sharply acted and finely tunes, "All or Nothing" is another of British director Mike Leigh's look at the lives of the British working class. Plotting here more or less takes a bit of a back seat to character development and a s bleak as some of the goings on can be it is breathtaking and unforgettable when redemption finally kicks in.

The film is not always an easy one to watch, and if you are new to Leigh you might want to start with "Secrets and Lies," "Career Girls," or, if you can find a copy, "High Hopes." If, however, you are already a Leigh fan, this one is for you.

When you see an Amazon customer review that uses the word (and I used the term loosely) "ohmigod " in it's heading you automatically know that the review is better suited for tripe like "Bad Boys II," "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle," or any number of Adam Sandler or David Spade movies. What a pity for them that Arnold Schwazenegger has quit movies for the foreseeable future. On the plus side, they can take comfort. "Weekend at Bernie's," both I and II are now available on DVD.

Indeed, if you are looking for nonstop action, constant special effects and shots that last no more than a few seconds be assured, Mike Leigh is not for you. However, if you are one of the discriminating movie goers who crave serious character development, thoughtful plot development, and absolute top notch acting you can ignore the musings of such reviewers.

"All or Nothing" is certainly Mike Leigh's bleakest outing since "Naked" nearly a decade ago, and it isn't an easy watch for everyone. But the characters are on target, the situations are real and, this being a Leigh film after all, the acting is noting less than extraordinary with Timothy Spall, Leslie Manville, and Ruth Sheen (veterans of Leigh movies all) each in top form.

Darling of the British movie elite, Mike Leigh indulgently delves yet again into his peculiar facination with a largely ficticious and fanciful working class, more Dickensian than it is contemporary. Ugly, uncouth, incoherent and nihilistic, 'All or Nothing' is an often cumbersomely self-conscious piece of drivel, offset only by one or two touching scenes between Timothy Spall and Lesley Manville. The film leaves this viewer wondering if Leigh has actually ever met people from the English working class, since the films characters are such appalingly carricatured Fag Ash Lil and Andy Capp types. Infantile and disciplinary impotent adults vie with teenagers whose script consists largely of "fak orf" whenever their parents address them. Certain scenes appear as random flights of fancy offering no insight or even evident connection with the plot (such as it is). Taxi driver Phil (Spall) drives off to the beach after switching his radio off. Standing balefully looking out to sea we are unsure whether he is contemplating suicide or lamenting the one that got away on his last fishing trip. Next cut to Phil driving back home. Huh?
'All or Nothing' may appear to be the stuff of "gritty realism" to Leigh and the cosy arthouse world he inhabits, but in truth it indicates just how out of touch with the real-life subjects he and his cohorts truly are.

After hearing the director's commentary (sadly available only on the British DVD release, it seems), I appreciated Mike Leigh in a new way. He is, at heart, a simple storyteller who delights in letting us see real human beings in real situations, inviting us along on the journey as their lives and characters are shaped. As expected, we meet a number of struggling (and uniformly depressed) characters, all of whom have hidden depths which are revealed as the central events of the film transpire. Leigh elicits believable and affecting performances all round. Admittedly, this is even bleaker than Secrets and Lies, although there is an undercurrent of redemption as the tensions begin to resolve. As usual, this vintage Leigh offering is compelling stuff.