Layer Cake (Film)

Layer Cake

(Synopsis & Reviews)

Synopsis:

Just as a successful cocaine dealer, who has earned a respected place among England’s Mafia elite, eyes an early retirement from the business, big boss Jimmy Price hands down a tough assignment: find Charlotte Ryder, the missing rich princess daughter of Jimmy’s old pal Edward, a powerful construction business player and gossip papers socialite. Complicating matters are two million pounds’ worth of Grade A ecstasy, a brutal neo-Nazi sect and a whole series of double crossings. Sally Hawkins plays “Slasher,” one of only 3 female roles in the testosterone-drenched movie, who’s a gun-toting girlfriend of Jamie Foreman’s “Duke.”

Critics’ Reviews: (#1)

Matthew Vaughan, producer behind the entire Guy Ritchie oeuvre (Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, and… er… Swept Away), makes his directorial debut with Layer Cake, another tale from the British criminal underworld that thankfully avoids any association with aging pop icons. Instead, Vaughan opts to take some of the elements of Ritchie’s earlier work – colorful deviants, dark humor, Seinfeld-esque coincidence – and give them his own, slightly more somber spin. The result is an engaging 104 minutes that stakes its own claim on the genre.

The casting is near perfect. Gambon effuses the right balance of class and sleaze as double-dealing entrepreneur Temple. George Harris nicely underplays his role as XXXX’s right-hand-man-with-a-past Morty. And as XXXX, Craig carries the film ably, vividly conveying the anguish of a man who, for the first time, has to deal with the messy side of his chosen profession. It doesn’t hurt that Ritchie alums Jason Flemyng (whose single line in the film is one of the best) and Dexter Fletcher make appearances as well.

Screenwriter J.J. Connolly smoothly adapts his own novel, interweaving multiple plotlines while making room for voluminous exposition. There’s a lot of backstory here, but Vaughan’s flourishes and the actors’ sharp delivery makes that aspect just as entertaining.

In the end, the somewhat more mature mood of Layer Cake suggests that perhaps Vaughan is going for something a little more than just having fun with expletives and bullets. Buried somewhere in there (and explained maybe a little too clearly near the end) is a commentary on corporate culture (the “layer cake” in question). The confection that results is a must for those who like their tough talk delivered with an English accent. ~ David Thomas, Filmcritic.com

Critics’ Reviews: (#2)

…The shit may be out of control, but director Matthew Vaughn is firmly in it. The producer of Lock, Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels makes a striking debut with Layer Cake, which he decided to direct only after Guy Ritchie pulled out. Thanks to Vaughn and J.J. Connolly’s savvy script, Layer Cake proves a different kind of crime film from Ritchie’s over-the-top capers. Layer Cake is just as intricately plotted as Ritchie’s films, but far more serious, more deliberately paced, and in the end more suspenseful, because it’s a film about making difficult decisions in the struggle to survive. The one character reminiscent of Ritchie’s films, Duke, is exactly the sort of posturing fool The Rules instruct you to avoid. Otherwise, the criminals are smart. “Only very stupid people think criminals are stupid,” remarks XXXX.

Temple also makes clear the meaning of the ambiguous title. It doesn’t involve bakeries. Rather, the title is purely a metaphor for the stratified criminal underworld, as well as society as a whole. In this layer-cake world the art of a good businessman is being a good middleman. As for the ending, it’s either darkly audacious or a total cop-out, depending on whether you care more about correct morality or the fate of the protagonist. ~ Carlo Cavagna, AboutFilm.com

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