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) |
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 ...
This is a clever drug dealer movie set in the UK. It starts out with the main character (XXXX) and narrator cheerfully extolling the virtues of the drug industry when you are careful and organised like he is. He is about to retire with a nice little fortune. Then it all starts to go wrong, one thing after another as layers are added to the plot.
Sometimes it seems as if the plot is too complex and there are two dangers, one of leaving the audience behind and two leaving gaping holes in the plot. Still the humour and action set pieces are enough to pull it through. It is not as good as Snatch or Lock, Stock etc but is original enough to stand on its own right. Worth a look.