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Layer Cake
Sony Pictures Classics


7.6

based on 30 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 34 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Stardust

MPAA RATING: R for strong brutal violence, sexuality, nudity, pervasive language and drug use

Starring Daniel Craig, Colm Meaney, Sienna Miller, Michael Gambon, Jamie Foreman, Kenneth Cranham, and George Harris

A riveting thriller set in the drug underworld of the UK. (Sony Pictures Classics)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Crime \| Foreign \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	J.J. Connolly
DIRECTED BY:	Matthew Vaughn
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: August 23, 2005 Theatrical: May 13, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	105 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Fast, convulsive, and densely exciting new British gangster thriller.

Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt

Don't let the fast-and-loose vibe fool you: Right up to its operatic finale, this is one tight one last job.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Craig is fascinating here as a criminal who is very smart, and finds that is not an advantage because while you might be able to figure out what another smart person is about to do, dumbos like the men he works for are likely to do anything.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Things get a little tricky by the end, but it's the sort of trickery that's immensely satisfying.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Doesn't reveal all its layers until you've taken the last bite.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

It's a stylish and classic gangster saga about the clashing of rival empires.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The director Vaughn has a flair not merely for action and ambiance but also for character.

Time Richard Schickel

Layer Cake is a treat--especially if your taste in desserts is devil's food.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

A colorful cast whose combined energy lifts the story off the ground.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

The newest in British gangland entertainment and the tastiest in years.

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

Smartly put together, with interesting characters and caustic wit.

Variety Leslie Felperin

There's a proper lived-in believability about Layer Cake's depiction of how the worlds of the rich, the criminal and the criminally rich intersect.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Layer Cake is suffused with a stately sense of menace and a sort of doomed existential suave.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Cheeky, brass-knuckles British crime film.

Miami Herald Peter Debruge

It's like "Lock, Stock" as filtered through the mind of David Mamet, with Craig as the suave middleman holding it all together.

USA Today Mike Clark

There's a lot here to feed crime-fiction enthusiasts.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A crime drama in a special class.

New York Post Kyle Smith

This is a smart, vivid, thrillingly real gangster picture that nevertheless resembles many others.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

It’s hilarious, and genuinely cool.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Laced with flashbacks and stylistic tics, but it never loses its forward momentum, and to the last shot, it avoids predictability.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

A sleek, effective entertainment that is a refreshing respite from the slick emptiness of recent American crime dramas.

Film Threat Chris Barsanti

The writing is crisp and deeply layered, and the filmmakers gave themselves a rich array of actors to work with.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

The always-dependable and chameleon-like Craig has the chops and substance for that kind of film, but Vaughn prefers to keep matters brisk and superficial.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

By the end, you may be exhausted by the effort of trying to unravel the thing, but you may also be taken by the power of its spell. This is a movie that compels you to watch.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The result is so intoxicating, it hardly matters that you've heard it all before.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

Craig's got the stuff but the ending of this cake is soggy for its protagonist and audience.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Lively, cheeky, dense and, ultimately, too flip, clever and torturously twisted to be fully engrossing.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

One of those crime flicks besotted with its own plot.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

A lot of the problem is that the picture's protagonist is both naive and foul.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

What's abundantly clear is how far this kind of moviemaking has come from any knowledge of real criminal life; it's a geek's ineffectual daydream of mayhem.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 34 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jack T. gave it a10:
The Greatest Gangster Thriller I have Ever Seen

Adam C. gave it a10:
too good

Angela B. gave it an8:
Daniel Craig was great, and I wanted to see his work before James Bond. Good writing and dialogue, but I have seen much of the style before. Nonethess, it was quite interesting, and I am glad I watched it.

Taylor S. gave it a7:
It would have been a lot better if they connected the dots more and effectively concluded some of the points and scenes they were trying to accent.

Mark S. gave it a7:
This was pretty good. The lead actor was very good. But I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or as much as Snatch. And the very end made the movie almost pointless, it angered me.

House gave it an8:
Like a great rock song, Layer Cake hooks you early and never disappoints, rocking you until the final power chord of an ending. Daniel Craig is sensational supported by a cast that once again proves the UK has the best characer actors in the world.

Zigmund Z. gave it a6:
Failed to grab me in the first ten minutes, which is always a bad sign. Scorsese or Tarantino wannabe. Craig is excellent, but, my God, we've seen this before, done much better. Film has a feel of trying really hard to be outrageous and irreverantly shocking, but just comes off as being mundane and boring. Watch Trainspotting or Reservoir Dogs again, you'll be better off.

Layer Cake Sony Pictures Classics

Layer Cake
Sony Pictures Classics