Layer Cake

Theatrical Release Date: 2005 05 13 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 043396118225

Studio: Columbia TriStar

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Graphic Violence, Nudity, Adult Language, Substance Abuse, Sexual Situations]

Summary: A mechanic in the British drug trade finds himself caught in the middle of some dangerous circumstances in this crime thriller. XXXX (Daniel Craig) is a nameless go-between in the British mob who buys drugs from underground wholesalers and them sells them to street dealers, keeping the system flowing and making a tidy profit in the process. XXXX is looking forward to getting out of the game, and has displayed both smarts and caution in how he's handled his business, but before his overseer Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) will let him go, he has a couple of favors that need to be done. First, Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon) is a mob boss whose daughter has gotten hooked on hard drugs and run away from home; Jimmy needs XXXX to find them girl and bring her to him before Eddie's men can get hold of her. Second, Dragan (Dragan Micanovic) is a Ecstasy wholesaler who has had a large shipment stolen by Duke (Jamie Foreman); Jimmy wants XXXX to get the Ecstasy back to Dragan, but Duke isn't eager to sell and Dragan is becoming impatient. Between these two matters, XXXX isn't so sure he'll get out of the business alive, especially after he finds himself falling for Duke's nephew's girlfriend, Tammy (Sienna Miller). Layer Cake marked the directorial debut for Matthew Vaughn, best known as a producer for Guy Ritchie's lad-centric crime movies. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Crime

Awards: Best First Feature By a British Writer, Director, or Producer – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Special Mention for Excellence in Filmmaking – National Board of Review

Features: Full length movie
Widescreen presentation
DVD picture quality

Layer Cake

Format: Universal Media Disc

Release Date: 08/23/2005

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Alternate Wide Screen

Audio: 2 PCM stereo

Runtime: 106 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,French

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Derek Armstrong

The recipe for Matthew Vaughn's Layer Cake is simple: start with a few generous spoonfuls of Guy Ritchie, add a pinch of Martin Scorsese, and sprinkle in a few plot points from Carlito's Way. The result is a pretty yummy confection, even if it doesn't revolutionize the dessert world. Having produced each of Ritchie's films, Vaughn has taken with him the intricate plotting, the unintelligible accents, and the surplus of characters, most of whom have cookie-cutter mobster nicknames. He's left behind Ritchie's fondness for absurdist comedy, as Layer Cake proceeds in a mostly straightforward manner, at least in terms of its set pieces. The narrative is another matter -- J.J. Connolly's script gives birth to a new subplot about every five pages, and it becomes nearly impossible to sort out who is with whom, and whether it's a double- or triple-cross they're perpetrating. This disorganization leaves certain characters out in the cold, such as Sienna Miller's promising femme fatale, who has no function. As with a Ritchie film, it may be wisest to treat Layer Cake largely as eye candy. Vaughn's camera glides through the action like a guided tour of Britain's drug underworld, narrated by the nameless protagonist (Daniel Craig) and seen through a crisp, nearly colorized filter. It's mostly free from the frenetic trickery of Ritchie's films, save for one virtuoso sequence in which Vaughn films a vicious beating from the perspective of the victim, the camera somersaulting with each blow, and Duran Duran's "Ordinary World" sputtering in and out of clarity on the soundtrack. Vaughn can marry insubstantial pop songs with hip iconography like the most successful of his predecessors. What Vaughn can't claim is a totally distinctive vision -- the kind that might prompt young filmmakers to imitate him, rather than them. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Ivan Kaye  Actor 
Marvyn Benoit  Actor 
Don McCorkindale  Actor 
Tom Hardy  Actor 
Garry Tubbs  Actor 
Matthew Ryan  Actor 
Darren Healy  Actor 
Paul Orchard  Actor 
Marcel Iures  Actor 
Budgie Prewitt  Actor 
Louis Emerick  Actor 
Francis Magee  Actor 
Rab Affleck  Actor 
Neil Finnighan  Actor 
Natalie Lunghi  Actor 
Dexter Fletcher  Actor 
Dimitri Andreas  Actor 
Brinley Green  Actor 
Steve John Shepherd  Actor 
Ben Brasier  Actor 
Lisa Gerrard  Composer (Music Score) 
Adam Bohling  Producer 
Stephen Marks  Executive Producer 
Matthew Vaughn  Director 
Matthew Vaughn  Producer 
Ilan Eshkeri  Composer (Music Score) 
David Reid  Producer 
Claire McGrane  Producer 
J.J. Connolly  Screenwriter 
Daniel Craig  Actor 
Colm Meaney  Actor 
Kenneth Cranham  Actor 
George Harris  Actor 
Jamie Foreman  Actor 
Michael Gambon  Actor 
Tamer Hassan  Actor 
Ben Whishaw  Actor 
Burn Gorman  Actor 
Sally Hawkins  Actor 
Sienna Miller  Actor 
Stephen Walters  Actor 
Jason Flemyng  Actor 
Dragan Micanovic  Actor 

Country: UK