Instant Favorite.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

I really like this guy; he did Secrets and Lies, and Happy-Go-Lucky, and I'm about to check out "Life is Sweet." I'm on some nostalgic, vintage Britain trip. I first saw All or Nothing about 10 years ago, on cable, and came in halfway and, being an American, the times it was put on cable were about once every several years. And at the time I was in high school and didn't have my own personal computer or money to order a DVD so I just vaguely sulked missing this film. Now that I have my own means to hunt the film out I'm so glad I have! And with my trusty dusty internet I am able to see all these VHS gems I've stored over the years, like the first movies I mentioned, have the same director. So I feel I'm doing something right as far as taste, or Mike Leigh is. The film is about a connection of lives on a council estate/public housing complex. There's a couple with two kids that are less than models and not exactly skilled office workers, and neither are the parents. It's an overweight family of care home workers, supermarket workers, cabbies, and a bone-idle brat. You get the mother who has late-night timeouts to herself to grieve her existence, and the dad who digs for loose change under the cushions his couch potato son lounges on, a scene that silently, ironically shows how the cycle of poverty will continue within this family. Then there's the mother's friend, who is a drunk and her daughter is the council slag basically, who tries to steal the boyfriend of her mother's other friend's daughter. The daughter is Donna, a right stroppy girl who values her looks and nothing else of herself, which gives her a bad attitude that ruins her looks; the entire film she has a rough sneer on her face, or tear-stained makeup. The film shows the stereotypes without inducing eyerolls. Just like in Secrets and Lies (an AMAZING FILM that gives you laughs and tears), the soundtrack isn't cliché rap music to add to the mood of the urban setting, but it's somber violin music and no offputting lyrics. I don't know if the violin music is done to be ironic or if it's a way to ease and appease the upper-class or older viewers who probably need a break from all the aggression. But it's a contrast and kind of makes me giggle because it's music you'd hear in a Jane Eyre miniseries, and not in a film about rough "chavs" (I hate that word, but it's an inevitable and long standing part of English society, so.) Speaking of, then there's stuff like Daniel Mays who plays Donna's boyfriend, and his strong accent, and his entire script along with the other characters' is a rather intriguing glossary of chav slang like "doing my head in" and "bollocks" and "having a laugh"...it's endless yet not nauseating or annoying or forced. I'm not quite sure how much was ad-libbed/"mumblecore," or Mike Leigh's hand but I raised an impressed eyebrow at how Mike Leigh was able to do that, use that underclass attitude to add to the realism while making it funny without mocking them or ruining the film. So the social context of British historical and current events that create the too real contemporary "chav" culture is strong here, and Mike Leigh nicely portrays this bleak society somehow in many of his films.My only bone to pick is the actress who plays Donna. At first it seems like she is overdoing it but I know young women really do act this way and with their mums. Plus, she is pregnant, which makes women moody sometimes, and she has every reason to be angry if you look at the very utilised backdrop of impoverished tower blocks and screaming neighbours and a horrible boyfriend. It seems the actress has to really put on this hard act and bad attitude and her incessant "Shuh-ups!" to emphasise that her character is a chav and not a "regular" London girl. It's this attitude and accent and lingo that sets "chavs" apart from others, though they are a huge part of the demographic makeup in England and other parts of Britain. So I got over it. It is a bit crazy though that when she's battered and falls pregnant does this bring her and her single mother together. I think this lifestyle of unintelligent people was shown very intelligently. On the cable that I have it was ranked with 2 1/2 out of 4 stars. I know critics can be fickle but I was wondering why it didn't at least get 3. So perhaps the harsh setting and reality of white Brits (who are classically and mostly shown in film and art and music to be posh, upper-classed, intellectual) being shown here as the complete opposite was a hard pill to swallow and probably written off as hammed up rubbish, but no. I think it's got a skeleton of reality here under the embellishing skin of dramatic fights, and relationships, like Sally Hawkins flirting with a mentally challenged kid and how she chomps on gum the entire time and keeps flaring her nostrils. I'm not British so I don't know how many "rude girls" strut around provocatively on the estate all day, but regardless I don't think she played the role well to be honest. Someone *like* Lauren Socha perhaps, who can play chav rather naturally and endearingly.Anyway there's nothing here that I find unrealistic as far as the households and characters within and around, nor the situations they're in, nor how most of the actors/actresses played them, albeit some over the top, and I really appreciate this tour through the other half of British real life. Fine writer/director.

I suppose I could rate this Indie flick differently in different areas and perhaps, its technical merit is as good as any million dollar drama.On an entertainment level, there are some people who will be depressed by it. Why not, people of little culture, education and finance. Perhaps this is a type or urban hell we middle classes have denied?When contrasting the life of the characters here with the Queen, one becomes angry. Could all these obese and sad people have been left behind by the selective educational tracking of the U.K.?People such as my self watch and take from it as low as one is, there always appears a tier beneath.The characters may be real to life, but hopeless and sad. Generally, for a good flick we need a bit more I fear.Yes, there probably is no real message here, at least one I could easily see.Generally speaking the flick is depressing so please kids don't watch it with a gun in the house.

On a typical council estate in London, several families live in flats within the same complex. Some rely on drink to numb the days and nights, some don't work and do little other than hand around, some flirt to give themselves worth while others stay in abusive relationships for reasons only they can know. Within this world taxi driver Phil lives with his partner Penny, who works the checkout at the local Safeways. Neither of them are very close and their family live is one of quiet non-resistance. Son Rory spends his life on the sofa and is quick to abuse, while sister Rachel works quietly as a cleaner in an old folk's home. Their neighbours and friends live similar lives, with empty relationships and hopelessness seemingly being the norm.At time of writing IMDb has the genre tags "drama" and "comedy" listed for this title which sees them manage to over and underestimate both genres as it has plenty of the former and barely a scene of the latter. Coming as it does from Mike Leigh, nobody will be surprised to find that this film is a gritty look at the lives of a group of people on a London council estate, sharing flats in the same block complex. There isn't really one story for the most part, although in the final third there is one main event that directs the story; for the majority the film just crawls along at a very slow pace observing the characters and their situations. In this regard the film is very well done because it is utterly convincing. This isn't the world of the deprived and the poor but rather the world of the people who work the basic jobs, eat the processed food, watch Corrie, play the lottery and live in the areas avoided by those who can afford to do so. I'm not trying to generalise but this is where the film is set and even those who just see this world as they drive through or shop in Asda, will recognise it. I was engaged by it, not because the story was thrilling but just because of how very real it was.The downside is that the film is unrelentingly bleak and slow. There is hardly an upbeat moment in it and I did think that this damaged the film because such lives do not totally lack pleasure, it is just that the pleasure is perhaps simple; however the only character I felt got this was Maureen. This aspect of the film will frustrate many viewers who cannot find anything that makes them keep watching, however it will also appeal to others who embrace this wonderful realistic film that is not "commercial". The truth is that both camps are partly right because, although it is a stronger film for being so downbeat and convincing, it is also weaker for making this the whole show. Personally speaking though, I thought the positive side of the approach won out over the slow pace and depressing nature of it.The cast mostly rise to the challenge of the material, producing performances that only serve to make the convincing material work better. Spall is good but I did find him to be all a bit too sad-eyed and pathetic. At the start he was perfect but I felt he didn't grow his character and his "revelations" towards the end didn't totally convince. Conversely Manville dominated the film with a character that she totally made her own and developed really well, to me she was the heart and soul of the film. Around these two the rest of the cast have smaller parts but all do good work. Garland and Corden are both good as the children; Sheen is convincing as the "turned out alright" type; Bailey and Jesson do so-so with simple characters that don't get much beyond caricature. Kelly was wonderfully empty and needy while Hawkins got the council estate flirt just right – sexual and feeling powerful but yet vulnerable just below the surface. Coker, Mays, Hunter and others all do just as well with solid characters. For all that it was depressing, I did find myself engaged by the characters – the convincing sense of unfocused anger/frustration in some, the broken and tired nature of others with nothing behind dead eyes, all of them having fleeting moments of honest emotion that are gone as quickly as they come – these are people I know and people I live beside.Overall then, a film that is slow and endlessly bleak and I understand why some viewers have struggled with it. However it is convincing in its direction, writing and delivery by the cast and it is the feeling of reality that engaged me and held me despite of the script failing to find a real sense of humanity below the bleakness of the council estate life.

I had seen the controversial and hard-hitting Vera Drake from director Mike Leigh, and the critics liked this film, so I decided to give it a go. There was no real plot to the story for a while, just a gentle, philosophical taxi driver named Phil (Timothy Spall) who has a dry love relationship with his partner (who works in a supermarket) Penny (Lesley Manville), their daughter Rachel (Alison Garland) is an elderly people's home cleaner, and their son son Rory (James Corden) is unemployed and aggressive. It is when Rory suffers a near-fatal heart attack that the film really gets its biggest interest (although there are moments of good chat before), and all characters are brought together to rediscover themselves. Also starring Ruth Sheen as Maureen, Marion Bailey as Carol, Paul Jesson as Ron, Sam Kelly as Sid, Kathryn Hunter as Cécile, Sally Hawkins as Samantha and Helen Coker as Donna. The actors are great, the story is human and believable, and this is just one of those films that you can't stop watching. Very good!