Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
This movie is Guy Ritchie's finest work. Filmed in 1998, he perfected the quirky British crime/action flick for which he's become so popular. Like similar titles Snatch and last year's RocknRolla, it features large sums of money, multiple plot lines, conflicting criminals, and some sass. Perhaps some scenes are a bit over-the-top, like when the four main characters walk into their apartment to find the remnants of a gunfight. (Don't worry, that's not much of a spoiler)
The plot centers around four friends, all of whom work to pool their money and enter one, a talented gambler, into a poker game that requires a minimum of 100,000 quid in tote. Of course, things turn slimy and the four owe Harry, the "Porn King" owner of a sex shop, much more cash than they put in. The desperate attempts to gather the money in time bring them head to head with their pot-growing neighbors, two under-qualified robbers, and two beautiful antique guns of unknown (to most of the characters, anyway) value. Gunfights, Silly-looking drug lords, an assassin and his young son, and a large amount of scrambling, panic, and confusion make this film completely enjoyable.
You don't have to be a fan of the typical crime movie to enjoy this or any of Guy Ritchie's other creations. It's clever without being to confusing and funny without being a comedy. There's plenty of blood but it doesn't seem gory, and copious copious "smoking barrels" without seeming like a complete shooter. Rent, no, buy this movie. You'll want to watch it more than once.