All or Nothing

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

An exhilarating movie about sadness and renewal.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Exquisitely textured film.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

There are moments in All or Nothing of such acute observation that we nod in understanding -- The closing scenes of the movie are just about perfect.

Film Threat Rich Cline

It's a remarkable film; the dialogue takes our breath away with its sharp skewering of expectations and realities, the bleak honesty is balanced by the freshness of real life and moments of raw truth and comedy -- Don't miss it.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

Mike Leigh returns to the council flats of London -- and delivers a richly Dickensian masterpiece about working-class family life.

LA Weekly John Patterson

It's a strangely stirring experience that finds warmth in the coldest environment and makes each crumb of emotional comfort feel like a 10-course banquet.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

All the drinking, arguing and brooding, which in lesser hands might have produced oppressive and unvarying dreariness, somehow adds up to a tableau of extraordinary vividness and variety.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

The acting in All or Nothing is superb. Everyone creates a character we can immediately register and recognize as true.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

No picnic to watch -- Leigh's camera is unsentimental and unsparing.

Chicago Reader Meredith Brody

A comic and moving examination of life in an impoverished South London housing complex, features marvelous performances, especially from Leigh stalwart Timothy Spall.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

Though it's become almost redundant to say so, major kudos go to Leigh for actually casting people who look working-class; you'd be hard-pressed to get an American studio to go along with that, even though Leigh alumni often become famous.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Hollywood hardly ever pays attention to such people, and the average moviegoer won't either. But Leigh makes an irrefutable claim that their lives matter, and that attention must be paid.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Leigh's uncanny ability to mine emotional truth packs the usual punch. And the trademark flashes of humor sprinkled throughout ease the bleakness of the landscape.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Leigh doesn't sentimentalize these tragic, dead-end lives but allows his characters to be ugly and stupid, to make horrendous mistakes. Sometimes they're laughable, and yet there's never the sense that Leigh is mocking them.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Leigh isn't breaking new ground, but he knows how a daily grind can kill love. Strong stuff.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Suffers from touches of sentimentality in its last portion -- Many viewers may welcome this last-minute brightening, though. If so, All or Nothing could join "Topsy Turvy" and "Secrets & Lies" as one of Leigh's most widely enjoyed recent films.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Everything you've come to expect, and cherish, in a Mike Leigh movie.

TV Guide Ken Fox

In an outstanding ensemble, Spall is particularly good.

Variety Todd McCarthy

The wealth of behavioral detail and observational humor make for some rewarding drama that will resonate with many viewers.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

It's a hard-won comfort, found here over a bleak stretch of days, but All Or Nothing makes it look like the best life has to offer.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

All or Nothing has some appealing performances, several scenes of absolutely shattering domestic drama and an uncanny aura of gut-wrenching, documentarylike authenticity.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

In that rare moment, the movie relaxes its rictus of pain and actually dares to feel good. Moments like these aren't just a negotiation between all and nothing -- they're everything that allows us to care about even those characters who only slouch and shriek ''F -- - orfff!''

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

There's no doubt that Leigh gets inside his characters' lives. But that's often someplace we'd rather not be.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

A mostly glum, gray and grim story lit by a fugitive sunbeam.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Grueling, heavy-handed, and surprisingly insight-free. For once, a gaggle of Leigh characters hasn't jelled beyond the level of its cast's conceits.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Will probably appeal only to the most committed of Leigh fans.

Slate David Edelstein

Pure misery.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Leigh piles up woe wider and higher than ever before. That he has done so with his usual skill, perception and alertness to relieving gestures of human tenderness and care does not keep All or Nothing from being a pretty glum, overly familiar business.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

This feelbad movie makes you glad when it's over.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

The empathy never lifts off -- never becomes poetry. It doesn't help that Leigh indulges his unfortunate habit of larding the soundtrack with draggy, mournful music, heavy on the cello.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Though more cathartic than redemptive, this sob-racked confession is the payoff for two hours of low-grade misery.