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Sexy Beast (2001)

tomatometer

86

Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 128
Fresh: 110 | Rotten: 18

Sexy Beast rises above other movies in the British gangster genre due to its performances -- particularly an electrifying one by Ben Kingsley -- and the script's attention to character development.

94

Average Rating: 7.6/10
Critic Reviews: 35
Fresh: 33 | Rotten: 2

Sexy Beast rises above other movies in the British gangster genre due to its performances -- particularly an electrifying one by Ben Kingsley -- and the script's attention to character development.

audience

81

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 36,871

My Rating

Movie Info

Gary (Ray Winstone) is a former gangster who has made a modest amount of money from his criminal career. Happy to put his life of crime behind him, he has retired with his wife Deedee (Amanda Redman) to the sunny bliss of rural Spain, where he lives an idyllic life with his family and a few close friends. But Gary's contentment is ruptured by an unwelcome visitor from his past -- Don (Ben Kingsley), a former associate who has been hired to assemble a team of criminals to rob a heavily guarded

R,

Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Comedy

Louis Mellis, David Scinto

Mar 12, 2002

$6.0M

20th Century Fox - Official Site External Icon

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Cast

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All Critics (131) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (113) | Rotten (18) | DVD (31)

The talented Glazer keeps things crisp, clean and purposeful. The only flab on this film is around the waist of its sybaritic hero, a working-class crook who has finally gotten a taste of the good life, and doesn't want to lose it.

March 31, 2008 Full Review Source: Newsweek
Newsweek
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From the off it's clear at once that Jonathan Glazer will be a ballsy, switched-on film-maker.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
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Aside from [Glazer's] visual flair and gallows humor, he's still subtracted much more than he's added.

September 17, 2001 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
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A marvelously suspenseful character study wrapped up in a refreshingly tight crime film.

July 6, 2001
Orlando Sentinel
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Just the latest film to illustrate that filmmakers from TV and videos not only know what they're doing, but do it a whole lot better than we'd like to admit.

July 2, 2001 Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee
Sacramento Bee
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One of the more interesting efforts in its genre, though it has been somewhat overrated.

June 29, 2001 Full Review Source: New York Observer
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Stands head and shoulders above the late 90s flurry of British gangster movies. Stylish and confident and built upon a fearsome performance from Ben Kinglsey.

September 19, 2011 Full Review Source: Film4
Film4

It's not just the ironic kick of watching the guy who played Gandhi get his rocks off on sociopathic violence. Ben Kingsley's Don Logan is one of cinema's all-time fearsome, loathsome villains - stalking even the frames from which he's absent.

September 24, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com
Suite101.com

When you get the chance, give this one a look.

April 29, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed
Cinema Crazed

Winstone e (especialmente) Kingsley carregam o filme com suas atuações magnéticas, enquanto Glazer confere charme à narrativa com sua abordagem bem-humorada. Infelizmente, o terceiro ato não sobrevive à ausência do personagem mais interessante do projeto.

July 10, 2008
Cinema em Cena

This slight-seeming but trim and absorbing British import deepens in your head the more you chew it over later.

September 23, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com
eFilmCritic.com

A film that takes a familiar premise -- in this case, a retired thief who is asked to pull one last job -- and makes it exciting again through the use of interesting characters, elegant camerawork and exhilarating storytelling.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound
Big Picture Big Sound

A fun gangster film, telling the tale of you-can-never-really-leave that The Godfather, among others, championed so well.

June 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Scouts
Film Scouts

An astonishing underwater robbery scene highlights this amazingly staged and acted film. A must-see.

May 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid
Combustible Celluloid

It's nice to see a new director willing to spend as much time with his actors as he does moving the camera around.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat
Film Threat

Most crime stories, from Cain and Abel to Macbeth to Bonnie and Clyde to Pulp Fiction, show us that crime doesn't pay. Sexy Beast has more to say than that.

December 6, 2004
Looking Closer

a chilly comedy of the darkest kind, set in a world where sentences are punctuated with profanities, weapons sometimes fall apart at unfortunate moments and people say things like 'You've got very nice eyes... Are they real?'

August 17, 2003 Full Review Source: Kalamazoo Gazette
Kalamazoo Gazette

Guaranteed to inspire a thousand scene replays in pubs on a Friday night.

April 16, 2003 Full Review Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)

First-time director Jonathan Glazer tries so hard to be Guy Richie, without looking like he's trying to be.

March 19, 2003 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comments (2)
eFilmCritic.com

Ben Kingsley goes way over the top in a departure from his traditionally more subdued roles.

January 29, 2003
Cinema Sight

Audience Reviews for Sexy Beast

One of the most enjoyable films of the decade and one of the very few where I really sympathized with the characters - even if some of them are cartoons.

It's kinda "The Long Good Friday" meets the domestic stuff in the Sopranos. Ben Kigsley is just wild and Ray Winstone is a truly lovable loser. All this and killer tunes.
May 6, 2007
brooklynspo

Super Reviewer

A dynamite drama concerning a retired safe-cracker (Ray Winstone), enjoying life and being retired, who is hounded by a former partner (Ben Kingsley) to do that dreaded one last job. Cliched premise for a plot is handled with exceptional skill and meticulous care, and is aided by a rip-roaring, Oscar-nominated performance of Kingsley as a man who seems to have no dignity whatsoever and wants what he wants his way, immediately. Winstone is also excellent as a burned out old criminal who just simply wants to be left alone. One of the most underseen movies I can recall, I have not bumped into anyone else really who has seen it. This is a fantastic movie that also has a great lesson on being wise with what you choose as your career, as well as being careful with those who you decide to be your friends.
February 20, 2008
Dan Schultz

Super Reviewer

    1. Teddy Bass: Where there's a will, and there is a fucking will, there's a way, and there is a fucking way.
    – Submitted by Hari A (5 months ago)
    1. Don "Malky" Logan: Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!
    – Submitted by Moe J (8 months ago)
    1. Gary "Gal" Dove: I'm not into this any more.
    – Submitted by Zbigniew Z (10 months ago)
    1. Teddy Bass: See, If I cared, Gal, if I fucking cared, if I gave a solitary fuck about Don... Get out of the fucking car!
    – Submitted by Zbigniew Z (10 months ago)
    1. Don "Malky" Logan: I love you, Gal. You're lovable. Big lovable bloke.
    – Submitted by Chris P (2 years ago)
    1. Gary "Gal" Dove: This is madness, I've had enough of this "Crime and Punishment" bollocks. I'm happy here.
    – Submitted by Chris P (2 years ago)

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