Layer Cake (2004)

All Critics (141) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (108) | Rotten (25) | DVD (23)

I like Layer Cake a lot.

June 20, 2005 Full Review

Richard Roeper

Ebert & Roeper

Top Critic

It's a little bleak, a little twisted, a little gory, and a lot funny.

June 11, 2005 Full Review

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Top Critic

The film is lamentably short of narrative coherence.

June 10, 2005 Full Review | Comments (2)

Peter Howell

Toronto Star

Top Critic

The intricate thing dodges and feints and twists this way and turns that way until, by the time of the alleged resolution, we've lost our bearings completely.

June 10, 2005 Full Review

Rick Groen

Globe and Mail

Top Critic

It's almost too much to follow, but the style, proven by Ritchie time and again, is irresistible.

June 3, 2005 Full Review

Roger Moore

Orlando Sentinel

Top Critic

It has more heft than the Ritchie movies.

June 2, 2005 Full Review

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Top Critic

Only the accents are thicker than double-crosses in a thriller that's stylish and sleek - note lyrically appropriate use of Duran Duran's "Ordinary World" in one sequence - but also assuredly delirious, ethically hefty and unpredictably treacherous.

September 19, 2010 Full Review

Nick Rogers

Suite101.com

"Layer Cake" is a stylized British noir full of clever twists, biting dialogue, and plenty of ironic violence.

July 2, 2009 Full Review

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

A história bem amarrada é beneficiada ainda pelo senso de humor seco e eficaz, ao passo que o elenco confere charme a um bando de personagens inescrupulosos e a direção de Vaughn, associada à inventiva montagem, torna o filme sempre instigante.

September 1, 2008

Pablo Villaca

Cinema em Cena

[A] fun, snappy crime caper that begins with a wryly understated take on the "one-last-job-and-I'm-out" subgenre.

May 26, 2006 Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Intense story about low-level organized crime figures embroiled in a deadly conspiracy.

March 10, 2006 Full Review

Robert Roten

Laramie Movie Scope

protagonist's narration puts the film's complex plot into much broader economic, political and cultural context.

November 17, 2005 Full Review

Dragan Antulov

Draxblog Movie Reviews

A smart thrill ride with one magnificent finish.

October 7, 2005

Forrest Hartman

Reno Gazette-Journal

Fun stuff indeed, even if you might need the subtitles to help decipher all the Britspeak.

August 23, 2005 Full Review

Scott Weinberg

DVD Clinic

It does nothing revolutionary, but it handles the basics with entertaining aplomb.

July 28, 2005 Full Review

Eric D. Snider

EricDSnider.com

Just following what is going on is a big job, but the film has its rewards.

July 8, 2005 Full Review

Mark R. Leeper

rec.arts.movies.reviews

Layer Cake is not the most original or memorable picture in the world, but it's a great calling card for Vaughn.

July 5, 2005 Full Review

Kevin N. Laforest

Montreal Film Journal

Clean, crisp and gratifying, you'd be hard pressed to find a better British film this year.

July 5, 2005 Full Review

Dan Chant

FilmFocus

This is one of the few movies for which I can't tell you the name of the "hero."

June 27, 2005 Full Review

Linda Cook

KWQC-TV (Iowa)

It's nothing we haven't seen before, but Vaughn invests it with enough style and energy to make it worth the trip.

June 21, 2005 Full Review

James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

...a delicious crime melodrama, with colorful characters, lots of action and violence, double and triple crosses, and a few fresh surprises of its own.

June 19, 2005 Full Review

Daniel M. Kimmel

Worcester Telegram & Gazette

...Michael Vaughn, has cooked up a tasty treat in his directorial debut, somewhere between Mike Hodges' cool and Guy Ritchie's out-of-control Smoking Barrels.

June 15, 2005 Full Review

Lori Hoffman

Atlantic City Weekly

It's occasionally taut and clever enough to hold audience attention, but ultimately has little substance to accompany its cool exterior.

June 14, 2005 Full Review | Comments (2)

Todd Jorgenson

Denton Record Chronicle (TX)

Crime caper in the style of Guy Ritchie, but better.

June 14, 2005 Full Review

Jeff Otto

IGN Movies

Nimbly dances through a handful of plot twists as we track who set up whom, and who hired whom to whack whom.

June 14, 2005

Sean O'Connell

Charlotte Weekly

• 1. Morty: [XXXX is beaten and bloodied on the ground] You killed crazy Larry?
  2. Gene: So? This fucker killed Jimmy! [kicks XXXX in the chest]
  3. XXXX: Oh. Jesus Christ!
  4. Morty: [grabs XXXX by his shirt] Why did you do it?
  5. XXXX: He was an informer! He was a police informer!
  6. Gene: Jimmy, a grass? Are you fucking mad? You'll have to do better than that.
  7. XXXX: I've got a recording at home, of Jimmy and a cozzer called Albie Carter.
  8. Morty: Gene, let's listen to this shit. If he's lying, we'll both fucking kill him.
  – Submitted by David O (18 months ago)
• 1. XXXX: [answering his phone] Who is this?
  2. Dragan: My name is Dragan.
  3. XXXX: How did you get this number?
  4. Dragan: Boatman Paul gave me your number, in the end.I believe you have some property that belongs to my employer and you're the person I should talk to about the return of this cargo stolen by your associate, the Duke.
  5. XXXX: Dragan, the Duke is nothing to do with me.
  6. Dragan: Mr. Duke came to Amsterdam, used your name, said he worked for you. Are you listening?
  7. XXXX: Dragan... I've got an idea. Why don't you come round for breakfast, I'll squeeze some orange juice and grind some coffee and we'll talk about this like adults, how does that sound?
  8. Dragan: Sounds very hospitable.
  9. XXXX: Do you know where I live?
  10. Dragan: No.
  11. XXXX: Well fuck off then. [hangs up]
  – Submitted by David O (18 months ago)
• 1. Morty: Why did you keep the gun?
  2. Gene: Silly as sounds, but it was me favorite.
  3. Morty: I hope you don't tell your other guns that you have a favorite. [Gene and XXXX laugh]
  – Submitted by David O (18 months ago)
• 1. Cody: [impersonating a police captain] Is the area now secure?
  2. Tiptoes: Yes sir.
  3. Cody: Well you can fuck off then, can't you?
  – Submitted by David O (18 months ago)
• 1. XXXX: Hey Gene, I've got some good news.
  2. Gene: Oh yeah? Whats that? [punches XXXX in the face] You murdering bastard!
  – Submitted by David O (18 months ago)
• 1. Clarkie: Where are we going Morty?
  2. Morty: Back to that boatyard. Someone is about to get a fucking slap.
  3. Terry: Yes Morty, about fucking time. [pats him on the back]
  – Submitted by David O (18 months ago)