Pete Jones This film is a very welcome break from big-budget silly pseudo gangster nonsense like Rocknrolla or the usual vacuous Hollywood fare that we've come to expect. With a refreshingly understated narration by the ever impressive Neil Fitzmaurice, the film is mostly a flashback, which makes you want to keep watching until the whole thing is 'resolved'. Good performances all the way through, the low budget is not too apparent, and there are some very memorable scenes, without the film trying to hard to impress. I would say that this film is well worth adding to your collection, and it's even watchable with your girlfriend, as its strengths are in the plot and atmosphere, rather than macho antics or mindless violence. After it's over, you are left thinking about it, which doesn't always happen with this kind of production. SEE IT!

nellyd23 Saw this film on late night TV the other night and was entranced byits sheer awfulness. Alas it surely must be added to the futurecult movie genre 'bad British gangster films' . Right from the word go it was terrible, the clichés coming thick andfast. The strippers, the snorters, the shooters ('did you bring it ?'),the pretty blond lawyer, the flashbacks, the jail, the bully, the wiseold con, the predatory homosexual, the fights, the rise to the top,the gay crime lord, the thick coppers........it just went on and on... Itis a crime film where the writer has been influenced by the genrerather than any real knowledge of - or insight into -criminalbehavior. The end result is a rubbish plot and bad dialogue. The title itselfis a clue. Very poor.

geordie_joe I am no critic and don't butter things up with long words i just burped up after swallowing a library full off dictionaries. So here goes, the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me Bob.....This has got to be one of the most overlooked gangster movies of all time. And why? I have no idea.... This has got to be one of those films you never here about ever, i quite happily could have gone along till the end of days, thinking that the best English gangster films are all based around nasty little cockneys. That was until my mate Ant said "have a butchers at this and tell me what you think". How wrong could i have been.This film is based around a group of Scousers who start off in prison as nobodys and end up taking over the drug scene of Liverpool's clubland. This movie is very gritty at times, and shows the inside of prison from a frightened young mans perspective. The horrible reality of male sexual assault is very graphic and the issues surrounding it are quite disturbing, but don't let that put you off.The other side of this movie is like a flip of a coin. From Drama and grit, a hilarious side spews fourth engulfing you in fits and spasms of uncontrolable laughter, that will make the neighbors think your completely off your box (watch out for the kidnapping story and the drug dealing ice cream van saga) Superb!!I've watched the lock stocks, The Clockwork Oranges and the Gangster Number 1's and can easily say this is well up there with them.If you love crime stories, watch this and you'll be soon walking around threatening people with a Scouse accent. (and there's nowt wrong with a scouse accent)Thanx AntEnjoy =+)

Robin Kelly Having endured the horrors of the recent spate of cockney crime capers I had equally low expectations of this scouse crime caper but it proved to be one of the best British films of the year.Neil Fitzmaurice's screenplay doesn't do anything radically different, let's be honest, but he manages to bring a fresh eye to a tired genre. The film follows the life of an innocent who is transformed by prison. This is told in a narrated flashback - and you even get flashbacks within flashbacks - which is difficult to pull off but somehow Fitzmaurice manages it. This framing device is usually a lazy way of keeping the audience interested during the boring bits but each section of the film is interesting in its own right and leads logically to the conclusion. Although there are a couple of plot contrivances I had to take with a pinch of salt there is nothing that damages the movie too much. While I'm sure authentic Liverpool gangsters would have spotted lots of mistakes, to a law-abiding citizen like myself it seems quite realistic. And the screenplay does a better job than most of marrying the comedy with the drama.Fitzmaurice also acts in the film in the lead and that's probably the key to its success. All drama should begin with believable strong characters and while writers often overlook this, actors are less likely to. So Going Off Big Time has the treat of character motivations you understand and can follow without being annoyed. And actors also know how to write dialogue, which in this movie is excellent. The dialogue manages to be authentic without alienating those from outside Liverpool, which is always a help.The original release date was September, about the same time as Snatch, but only arrives in my local multiplex in November. Timing is obviously everything and while they had bad luck with the theatrical release it should prove a video rental hit. While this was always going to be second best to Snatch, it isn't as far behind in quality as one might think.