Adam Peters (38%) A comedy drama that isn't funny or dramatic enough to surpass even moderate expectations. The director Shane Meadows appears to relish depicting the working class, but here his characters largely come across like one dimensional Viz cartoon strips, only not as comically pleasing, yet at the same time just as stereotypical. The cast is made up of a strong British cast from all corners of the country, but the slightly soap opera style writing is never quite good enough meaning no one ever gets the chance to shine. There are some amusing parts toward the first half, but the maudlin and trite closing sequence is enough to make me never want to watch this ever again.

Tim Kidner I generally like Shane Meadows, his honest writing and depiction of what early 21st century average life in Britain is actually like, is both appealing and refreshing.This one (I re-watched after many years and seen all his later work) is just a bit of a tangled mess (hence my summary title). It was great to watch the great Kathy Burke in a dominant (yes!) role now that she's concentrating on theatre direction these days. Also, her screen hubbie, a rather ridiculous wannabe country singer in the shape of Ricky Tomlinson.Robert Carlyle plays to form as a real piece of ***t who is after getting his ex back. I soon found his constant shouting, swearing and nastiness wearying and Ryhs Ifans' counter example, as poor Shirley Henderson's dopey, lily-livered 'boyfriend' equally annoying. I wanted to shout out loud 'forget them both', but this being drama, the opposite happens of course.The lighter moments, I suppose were intended to punctuate this domestic misery with an air of humanity. But, most of the time, they look stupidly careless, leaving you unsure whether they were intentional, or not. I did like the overall premise, especially at the end, when the subversive comparison to the classic western becomes apparent, though the setting is a modern English city's housing estate over a hundred years later. The Sierra Cosworth being the equivalent of a wild stallion...?Meadow's work, though, is always of much merit and the fact that he has gotten himself a niche and etched himself a position on that elite panel of independent Brit directors whose work is admired equally by critics and public alike, is to be much admired. It also means that this quite early offering from him is still above average.

Graham Greene If the interviews and commentary-track on the Dead Man's Shoes DVD are anything to go by, even Meadows himself considers this film to be something of a failure; even going so far as to take up semi-retirement until Paddy Considine could talk him into making another film. As a result of Meadows' personal opinion, coupled with the critical notices at the time, I'd avoided the film under the allusion that it was an absolute cinematic disaster; a Brit-flick turkey completely devoid of merit!! As it happens, however, the film isn't all that bad, or at least, not as bad as I'd been led to believe by the director and the critics.The story is simple, with Meadows and co-writer Paul Fraser playfully attempting juxtapose the conventions of the spaghetti western genre with the more traditional style of British storytelling favoured by the likes of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh. So, we have the usual western flourishes - the lone desperado riding into town, the fight between the two protagonists over the hand of a fair maiden and the big mid-narrative showdown at the local saloon - appearing alongside the more obvious British concerns like family-ties, shell-suits, day-time talk shows and bingo. The combination of the two forms isn't entirely successful, and it seems that the filmmakers aren't quite committed to the concept 100%, with certain parts of the film simply descending into the style of film-making usually reserved for an ITV social drama. The use of the widescreen "cinema-scope" photography works well, with Meadows lovingly referencing the films of Sergio Leone, most prominently in the scene in which Robert Carlisle's character Jimmy has an altercation with the bumbling Dek - brilliantly played by Rhys Ifans - at the auto-garage where he works. As well as that particular scene, there's also the big climactic face-off between the two characters, which is also perfectly handled by Meadows and his crew; with the director making great use of the frame and plenty of low-angles, whilst a crane shot rising above the houses as one of the characters drives off into the sunset is also a particularly nice touch (though it's a shame Meadows didn't go for close-up shots of the character's eyes, ala A Fistful of Dollars, but perhaps that would have been a little too much?).Comic relief comes courtesy of Ricky Tomlinson and Kathy Burke in supporting roles, with both actors doing their usual trademark shtick to great effect (a scene in which Burke's character accidentally gets hit on the head with a projectile microphone is bound to generate more laughs that you'd probably expect!!). Carlisle and Shirley Henderson are both good in their pivotal roles, though for me it's Ifans who really impresses; managing to make his character likable and believable as he progresses through the film from meek-doormat into someone who is willing to fight for the family he loves. This is the second film I've seen, following Enduring Love in which Ifans hasn't seemed like a complete caricature (sort of like he did in Notting Hill and Human Nature), with both films showing his capacity to switch from sly humour to emotional drama within a single scene and furthering his metamorphosis into one of the UK's greatest actors.Once Upon A Time... is by no means as impressive or inspiring as other films by Meadows, in particular A Room for Romeo Brass and Dead Man's Shoes, but it's enjoyable enough and charming in its own way, with Meadows and Fraser balancing an interesting story with an imaginative concept and a handful of strong performances.

chrisfewtrell I got a great idea: British films are sooo bad, what if we gather all the great actors we've got in one place - English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish, scouse, brummie, cockney, yeah? Mix em all up like in one big impossible family? It's gonna be a scream. OK, so we pitch the idea and some idiot gives us the green light. Man, this is gonna be bigger than the Boondock Saints. So we get the cast - and what a cast! - and we get the director, locations, mobile café, the works. Dammit! Who brought the story? What, no one? We're gonna have to make it up as we go along? What if it turns out to be a horrible, embarrassing mess, a waste of time and the collective talents of the UK's finest thesps? Whaddayamean, it couldn't happen again: when was the last time you paid to watch a British film? Guess what? It did happen again. Makes you want to crawl away and die of humiliation, don't it? Question: Who on God's planet finances British films? It has to be the same people who 'run' English football. Don't they watch movies? Don't they want to make money? See the papers this weekend (Aug 19 2006)? Bollywood consistently outperforms - make that trashes out of sight - British films in the UK. The subcontinental fools! Has no one told them how last century it is to make entertaining films that people actually want to see? You want to know what a bunch of relative unknowns can do with a script written with love, care and respect for its audience? Go watch Serenity.