It's a Guy thing ... Gerard Butler and Thandie Newton in Ritchie's Rocknrolla
I went on record on this blog not long ago stating that for me, Guy Ritchie's earlier films are something of a guilty pleasure, and to be honest, not much has changed after catching a screening of Rockandrolla a couple of weeks ago. Whilst I'm completely aware that Ritchie is regurgitating a style that never looked particularly fresh in the first place, I still found the whole thing a boisterously entertaining, funny, sharp and well acted two hours.
Opinion is certainly split on the film in the various corners of Guardian Towers. Peter Bradshaw can't abide it ("Mr Ritchie: this genra: it's ova"), and Xan Brooks has also given it a good kicking. Steve Rose, on the other hand, joins me in admitting a somewhat sheepish crush.
Elsewhere, reviewers have generally been pretty kind, although over on Rottentomatoes.com, it's notable that those journalists who the review site rates as "top critics" are far less positive.
"You can say this much for Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla: it isn't as bad as his last two films," writes Tim Robey in The Telegraph, while The Times' James Christopher says the movie "brings back too many jaundiced memories and fails to lay any fresh tracks".
Is this just a case of po-faced Brits laying into one of their own, however? US trade bible Variety describes Rocknrolla as Ritchie's return "to top form". The film is "cleverly constructed, sensationally stylish and often darkly hilarious" writes Joe Laydon.
What do you reckon? Does it matter that Rocknrolla is almost identical in style to Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels? Is this one the movie equivalent of a Rolling Stones classic, or a filler track from a late-era Oasis album?
