Small Time

This doesn't deserve a 1 rating but it's as low as I can give here. It isn't even a film - it looks like it was shot with one camcorder, and with zero artistic ability. Why it was made and how it got released is one of the great mysteries of modern times.

If there was a script - which I doubt - it was probably written by a monkey with a typewriter, and then destroyed in a mysterious shed fire. I don't think there is a single actor in the film, and most of the dialogue (or gibberish) appears to be improvised.

No attempt has been made to create characters or a plot. It doesn't tell us anything about the people, the places, the situations ... need I go on? It's just random and boring camcorder footage of strange people in weird clothes and wigs.

So what is the point? I have no idea. Should you watch it? No.

This the 'diamond in the rough' in British cinema and will be given a new chance to shine later on this year with its re-release on DVD in February. The Limited distribution and rarity of VHS copies has meant this film is a cult classic within an already small group of fans. Made on a shoestring budget using friends and family as cast you could ask no more from this film. If it was only for better backing this would be at worst equal to Trainspotting as a definitive British film of the decade.The comedy is enough to sprout a TV series alone. This film is the christening effort of Britain most talented director who has gone on to prove with Romeo Brass and Dead Mans shoes that it wasn't a fluke.

This small (and I use the word advisedly) has been reviewed on IMDb as though it were the second coming. Believe me it most definitely is not. Maybe Meadows intention was to display council estate stereotypes in an amateurish way but he certainly managed it in spades. The acting is not much above the level of Am-dram though it is not awful, the script such as it is seems improvised. I am sure that Meadows knows people like this but I do not. Why do the characters all wear really bad wigs?Why does every other word have to be F***? Why is there no story? It works on the level of an average student film but no better than that. After all I had heard and read about Shane Meadow's "genius" I was expecting so much more than was actually delivered. He fancies himself as Mike Leigh,perhaps, if so,he falls an awful long way short.

This is one of the most under-rated films of all time. It perfectly describes life on a council-estate in nineties

Britain and is down-right hilarious. The women in this film play spot-on parts, and the whole thing is perfectly acted with a tight script and brilliant lines. It is very conversation driven, very fast and if you are not clued in, may miss some of the humour

i watched this film at college and at the time i had never heard of shane meadows. since i watched this film i have become a huge fan of all his films. this man is the future of british cinema and is what the industry has needed. the film itself is very realistic in parts and is cast very well too. the script is brilliant and i found it inspirational as a way to write down to earth comedies with drama added on to it. hopefully this film is the way that meadows wants to go on and it seems that it will be from films such as room for romeo brass and 24/7.