This is an absolute uber-cool movie. Folks, I really can not try to motivate you enough to see LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS... Well now, the film is getting closer to an American release and in a lot of ways it's a damn shame STAR WARS EPISODE ONE will win the COOLEST AWARD next year, because if that film were not being released... this one would win hands down. It oozes cool from every pore. It has more great lines, scenes and characters than just about any film you can think of. Some of you will memorize this entire film. You'll sit around a table in whatever 'cool joint' you hang out in slamming drinks and laughing hard at the fond memories this film generates. But don't take my word for it, listen to this bloke...

Hey there big man,

Got to see Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels tonight at a Washington, DC screening. Writer/Director Guy Ritchie was in attendance and even held a little Q&A after the movie. There hasn't been a whole lot of buzz about this picture even though it opened last year in the UK and ruled the box office for many weeks. Due to the lack of advance press I didn't know what to expect other than it appeared that everybody who'd seen it had loved it.

Well, gotta say that this is as close the Brits are ever gonna come to their own Reservoir Dogs. Combine Tarantino's wicked sense of slice and dice (you know, all those scenes where the audience thinks they're seeing ultra- violence but in reality it's off screen and in your mind where it's all that much worse) with some of the funniest one liners since the Farrelly brothers discovered hair gel.

The story goes something like this:

SPOILERS ARE BELOW, DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW, OK? Cool.

Four young guys from London figure to make a killing by pooling their money and getting one of them a seat in a big card game. They figure they can't lose because Tom's a card sharp who's an expert at reading the reactions of the other players. Needless to say things don't go according to plan.

Hatchet' Harry Lonsdale runs a strip club in London but makes most of his money loan sharking. He's considered a maniac by the local lowlifes but his real love is antique guns. Harry has his eye on a couple of beautiful shotguns and assigns his trusted #2 "Barry the Baptist" (so known because he enjoys drowning those customers who get behind in their payments) to acquire said scatter guns by any means possible.

Also thrown into the mix is a crew of ruthless thugs who specialize in ripping off the local small time drug dealers, a couple of home invasion artists who'd make Abbott and Costello look competent, a gang of marijuana growers who guard their million dollar crop with a bb gun, and other assorted mobsters and muscle for hire. I don't want to give away too much of the plot so I'll just say that it's a wonder and a joy to watch as all these elements are juggled and jangled for an hour and a half until you cannot believe that the director is going to try to bring 'em all together in the last five minutes.....and not only does Ritchie succeed but the last scene is guaranteed to be one of the most talked about (and unexpected) climaxes of the year.

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels is dead on within the tradition of Tarantino and Danny Boyle. Not a wannabe but the next big thing for those of us that loved "Pulp Fiction" and "Trainspotting". The first great film for 1999.

Tape Worm