Layer Cake (2004)

A successful cocaine dealer gets two tough assignments from his boss on the eve of his planned early retirement.

Director:

Matthew Vaughn

Writers:

J.J. Connolly (screenplay), J.J. Connolly (novel)

Stars:

Daniel Craig, Sienna Miller, Michael Gambon

2 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Daniel Craig	...	XXXX
Tom Hardy	...	Clarkie
Jamie Foreman	...	Duke
Sally Hawkins	...	Slasher
Burn Gorman	...	Gazza
Brinley Green	...	Nobby
George Harris	...	Morty
Tamer Hassan	...	Terry
Colm Meaney	...	Gene
Marcel Iures	...	Slavo
Francis Magee	...	Paul the Boatman
Dimitri Andreas	...	Angelo
Kenneth Cranham	...	Jimmy Price
Garry Tubbs	...	Brian
Nathalie Lunghi	...	Charlie (as Natalie Lunghi)

Storyline

A successful cocaine dealer, who has earned a respected place amongst England's Mafia elite, plans an early retirement from the business. However, big boss Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) hands down a tough assignment: find Charlie Ryder (Nathalie Lunghi), the missing rich Princess daughter of Jimmy's old pal Eddie Temple (Sir Michael Gambon), a powerful construction business player and gossip papers socialite. Complicating matters are two million pounds' worth of Grade "A" ecstasy, a brutal Serbian gang, and a whole series of double crossings. The title "Layer Cake" refers to the layers or levels anyone in business goes through in rising to the top. What is revealed is a modern underworld where the rules have changed. There are no "codes", or "families", and respect lasts as long as a line. Not knowing who he can trust, he has to use all of his "savvy", "telling", and skills which make him one of the best, to escape his own. The ultimate last job, a love interest called Tammy (Sienna ...

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Plot Keywords:

nipples visible through clothing | no panties | scantily clad female | panties | lingerie | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong brutal violence, sexuality, nudity, pervasive language and drug use

Did You Know?

Trivia

"In time of peace, plan for war" is from "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, and is Chinese, not Roman.

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Goofs

When XXXX goes to the club and meets Cody and Tiptoes for the first time Tiptoes seems to know that Charlie and Kinky are both mixed up in the drugs scene without being told - all he has done is look at a couple of photos and all XXXX has asked them is if the can find someone really quickly.

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Quotes

XXXX: How was the performance of Faust?
Eddie Temple: Complex. No wonder it took him 60 years to write it.

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Crazy Credits

The film title appears on a door that XXXX walks through.

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Connections

Referenced in The Cinema Snob: Hellbound: Hellraiser II (2019)

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Soundtracks

Ordinary World
Written by Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, Warren Cuccurullo and Nick Rhodes
Published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd
Performed by Duran Duran
Licensed courtesy of EMI Records Ltd

User Reviews

Not Bad

I went into Layer Cake with no expectations. Being honest, I found the trailer tedious the second time I saw it. I didn't like the whole cake idea, it was okay to a certain extent I guess. I did however enjoy Lock Stock and Snatch. Layer Cake is a different kind of animal.

Whilst Lock Stock and Snatch were more comedy based, Layer Cake has this more serious approach, no names flashing on the screen, identifying any of the characters, so you have to pay extra special attention!

There are several flashback/sub plots which don't particularly help as they can confuse you if you're not paying attention. There were many characters introduced to you in a short space of time and then suddenly going off at a tangent involving some of the 'slightly minor lead' characters.

You can see the influences of other directors in Matthew Vaughn's end product. The direction style is good and the montage is solid.

Daniel Craig gives a good solid performance. His narrative does help place him well in the movie. His narrative in the beginning is definitely something that draws you in. The rest of the performances are pretty good. Tamer Hassan has a minor role. After seeing the major role he had in The Football Factory, he can act, he should have possibly had a larger character. His character does not shine across as that 'demented' as that in The Football Factory. Sienna Miller was underused also, which was a shame.

Although there are some problems with the story, Matthew Vaughn has made a respectable movie. This being his debut, he has nothing to be ashamed of. As long as he works on the clarity of the plot more, he will have no problems securing full audiences. Layer Cake gives a good reputation to British films instead of the some rubbish released over the last few years.

I enjoyed the ending, it was good, I'm not going to say anything about it!

My rating 7/10

Details

Official Sites:

Gaumont Columbia Tristar [France] Sony Pictures Classics [United States]

Country:

UK

Language:

English Romanian

Release Date:

3 June 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

L4yer Cake

Filming Locations:

Newport Pagnell Service Area, M1 Motorway, Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

GBP4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$81,706, 15 May 2005

Gross USA:

$2,339,957

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$11,850,214

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sony Pictures Classics, Marv Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS (US prints) DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1