The Business

I can't get enough of gangsters . I saw GOODFELLAS for the 20th billionth time last week and I bought THE DEPARTED on DVD yesterday so earlier tonight I sat down to watch Nick Love's much hyped - At least much hyped by Film Four - gangster movie THE BUSINESS

Did I say I couldn't get enough of gangsters ? Perhaps what I meant to say was I can't get enough of Scorsese because I got the impression that Nick Love was trying to emulate Scorsese's style and that is fatal for any director . Like GOODFELLAS and several other Scorsese classics the musical soundtrack is very important but for some reason Love seems to have thrown as many pop songs as possible into the mix . It's mentioned that towards the end of the story that it's 1987 with much of the narrative taking place before this , but the 80s tracks seem to be placed without any thought being put into their appropriate place within the chronology

The story itself is similar to a Scorsese film in that it's male orientated and misogynistic . Only difference is that the female characters are central to the plot in the Scorsese universe while in THE BUSINESS they seem to exist to just so to set an amusing scene towards the end where Frankie has to earn some money and one can't help thinking perhaps Love should have concentrated on a style of his own and put more thought into his own screenplay or perhaps even have directed a story written by somebody else therefore this audience member wouldn't have structuralist theories while watching a Nick Love movie

As for the cast I do remember writing in my review of BORSTAL BOY that Danny Dyer is an actor who could become a big name and I still stick by that but it's obvious he's rather unconvincing as a big hard gangster . I also couldn't help noticing that Camille Coduri and Linda Henry seem to be playing the same characters ( Though far more foul mouthed ) that they play in DOCTOR WHO and EASTENDERS respectively but as I said their characters are woefully underdeveloped so perhaps I shouldn't blame the actresses

THE BUSINESS is loud , violent and foul mouthed but most of all disappointing . Like OUTLAW the screenplay needed more work on it and perhaps the next film Love makes has a stronger producer who wants to find out like this audience member if he has an idiosyncratic style of his own

This is an OK gangster romp, very English, and not sure if it will translate well across the Atlantic.

Set in Margaret Thatcher's 80s, the storyline is pretty much the same as every other Gangster movie. Someone with nothing, works their way up the food chain, only to come crashing down again. Frankie starts out as a waster in South London, and becomes a big player in Spain's Costa Del Sol.

The location, costume, soundtrack and cars are fantastic, really transporting you back to the 1980s, but there are a few duff performances thrown in from some of the actors.

The are a few good lines and quotes in there, but nothing different from Nick Love's previous film, The Football Factory. Basically it is Football Factory in the sun.

It was enjoyable, but pales in comparison to something like GoodFellas.

I enjoyed this film. Some lines or scenes did make me cringe but only because those guys were really like that then. A bit like watching David Brent. The actors may have been Z grade but that just made it all the more real for me. It was like watching a slice of 80's small time hood life. If it had been slick with a Brad Pitt or directed by Scorcese it wouldn't have been the same. There is a time and a place for smooth Hollywood polish and its nice to see something that took you back to a time and place when cliché's weren't yet cliché's. The music is exactly what I was listening to back then. They are top 10 hits for a reason. And yes, guilty of track suits as well but walk around any city centre and you still see them, so this couldn't have missed the mark by much. All in all I had a good laugh and yeah, there is far better British made flicks that portray the gangster and drug industry but if you're looking for a small time look at a couple of losers trying to hit it big then this is a little slice of life for you.

Classic British gangster film set in Spain. Great dialogue and funny scenes. The third act is a little dark but overall it's an enjoyable film with a great 80's soundtrack.

Thatcher's 1980s heralded a new Britain where anything was possible – opportunities for undreamed-of wealth side by side with the emergence of beggars on the streets, and riots from unemployment and racial tension. 'Our Kid Frankie' (played by Danny Dyer) wants to 'be somebody' and not end up like his dad, so he does a little delivery job to 'Playboy Charlie' in Spain and gets hired as a driver at Charlie's lucrative nightclub.

Nightclub owners have a glamour appeal often shared by politicians, and this was particularly seductive in the 80s. Around Charlie, everything just 'happens' – you are out having a good time and he is the person who makes it all possible – effortlessly and continuously. 'Welcome to the pleasure dome,' croons the iconic pop song of the day.

From here on in, The Business is almost an homage to the decade. A scene on Charlie's boat – who is "so cool his bed makes itself in the morning" - recalls the famous Rio video by Duran Duran. Fashions, cars, dialect and attitudes are all mimicked with loving precision. Alan Durant once criticized music videos (which began in the 80s) for their tendency to glittery escapism, musical portraiture, and fixing the "currencies of sounds". Charlie fixes the currency of the world around him, particularly the currencies of crime, women and drugs, the three things Frankie's father had told him to avoid. But what else is there?

Soon they meet up with Charlie's partner Sammy, who is "so hard even his nightmares are afraid of him." Sammy is the financial brains of the operation and his hobbies include a jealous obsession with his girlfriend Carly, and also killing people. The fact that Charlie largely keeps him under control not only maintains the light-hearted roller-coaster, neon-lit feelgood factor, but sets it apart from films like Sexy Beast where the grandstanding stars give in to their characters' nastiness rather more readily. The undercurrent of criminal activity, just as in real nightclubs, is one of those things you speak about as little as possible, and always second in conversation to the finer things of life, such as the latest cocktail or trendiest clothes. Naturally things tend to go up or down rather than stay still, and even though Charlie manages to buy off the local mayor, things occasionally get a bit nasty. The skewered head scene is particularly liable to spoil the taste of that glass of Bollinger.

Like the world it portrays, The Business can be criticised as superficial and derivative, but it accurately depicts the headstrong, cheesy, glamour of the 80s and both glamorises and exposes the drug dealing high-life. My guess is it will either turn you off in the first ten minutes or carry you along with an adrenalin rush of New Wave dance anthems and snappy one-liners. The slangy witticisms are so consistent, as is every other aspect of this blood, sex and smarm soaked poolside party of a movie, that you may just decide to let go and snort a full line of it as you identify with personalities you'd never dare to in real life.

The 80s had a self-confident brashness guiding how people presented and expressed themselves, embracing or rejecting the new political and social divides. The Marbella look was in vogue – Hugh Heffner, Bunny Girls and pop stars. Now it looks dated and a bit tacky. But have we learnt? If we could view ourselves now from 20 years hence would we cringe at how prevailing trends suck us in? Even the relatively 'normal' gangsters wives in The Business seem hoodwinked to accept the status quo unquestioningly. The pervasive ideologies of our society are often invisible except in retrospect.

Love it or hate it, The Business confronts us with bygone clichés many would prefer to forget, but on its own terms it's a devil-may-care joyride of a movie – slide the Ray Bans back and get hammered on it.