Mr. Nice (2010)

The life story of Howard Marks, an elite British drug smuggler.

Director:

Bernard Rose

Writers:

Bernard Rose (screenplay), Howard Marks (based on the book by)

Stars:

Rhys Ifans, Chloë Sevigny, David Thewlis

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rhys Ifans	...	Howard Marks
Chloë Sevigny	...	Judy Marks
David Thewlis	...	Jim McCann
Luis Tosar	...	Craig Lovato
Crispin Glover	...	Ernie Combs
Omid Djalili	...	Saleem Malik
Christian McKay	...	Hamilton McMillan
Elsa Pataky	...	Ilze Kadegis
Jack Huston	...	Graham Plinston
Jamie Harris	...	Patrick Lane
Sara Sugarman	...	Edna Marks
William Thomas	...	Dennis Marks
Andrew Tiernan	...	Alan Marcuson
Kinsey Packard	...	Patti Hayes
Ania Sowinski	...	Maureen

Storyline

Mr Nice is the true life story of Howard Marks who was born into a coal mining family in South Wales in 1940's and then made it to Oxford University to study nuclear physics during the swinging sixties. With the help of fellow students, Marks built a worldwide marijuana smuggling network which became responsible for the majority of the drug smoked in the Western world during the 1970s and 1980s. Marks' adventures led him to have dealings with the CIA, PLO, IRA and the Mafia and he even became an MI6 agent himself for a period. Howard Marks is played by the brilliant Rhys Ivans, who won much acclaim for his portrayal of the folk hero.

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Plot Keywords:

bikini | drugs | mi6 | ira | cia | 

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Taglines:

Most Wanted. Most Wasted.

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Genres:

Biography | Comedy | Crime | Drama

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Details

Country:

UK Spain

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

3 June 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mr Nice

Filming Locations:

Benidorm, Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£134,846 (United Kingdom), 15 October 2010, Limited Release

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hindsight Media, Independent, Kanzaman

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In development hell for over a decade.

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Goofs

When Howard meets with Mac, the MI-6 operative, in the pub, a modern day Ford Focus can be seen out the window.

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Quotes

Jim McCann: Now, the Provos can't be involved in any of this shite. If they find out, I'll be shot. You'll be shot, we'll all be fucking shot.
Howard Marks: So we don't sell the stuff in Ireland.
Jim McCann: You'd better not be selling anything here. Could you get us some filthy films? Condoms? The priests have made them illegal. They wanna charge us a kid a fuck.

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Crazy Credits

The credits appear over a super slow motion shot of Howard Marks (Rhys Ifans) lighting and taking a toke from a joint.

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Soundtracks

Lazy
by Deep Purple

User Reviews

Enjoyable Romp

Nothing really serious, this just tries to entertain you. And it does achieve it most of the time. The acting is really good. Though I'm not sure if this is really based on anything that really happened (and if so, how accurate it did handle it).

The humor is not to everyones taste and there is a weird mixture with drama and adult themes going on. The UK rating still seemed a bit too high for my taste (no pun intended). It must have been the themes it did touch I guess. The story has bumps here and there, that do not allow you to be completely on top of it. Still despite those flaws, there is much fun to be had, with the rest of it.