FrogGlace
In other words,this film is a surreal ride.
Doomtomylo
a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Patience Watson
One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.
Hayleigh Joseph
This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.
soranamicooper
What a family! These are not your glam gangsters - seedy, paranoid; gotta keep it low-key - don't repaint the living room - too ostentatious. Low budget; no wastage; tight dialogue; well acted; some good sounds to boot from old hippy Dad and co. The humour's well black and the characters well credible (I'm sure they live just up the road). I loved them all, the conniving and the hilarious bodge jobs. It gets a bit out of hand (read that with whatever intonation you want). It's an absolute hoot and a little diamond of a film that'll survive repeat viewings.
fedor8
The shocker wasn't the predictable ending but IMDb's page. "Comedy/Crime" it says. What comedy? There wasn't an iota of a funny moment in this. The movie was interesting throughout – barring the slow and muddled 10-15-minutes intro – but if this was intended as a comedy then it failed miserably. As a crime drama it's an 8/10, as a comedy it is a round zero.I enjoyed the various plot-twists, but who didn't realize that Karl's mental instability would lead to murder within the family? The movie's other problem is its lack of realism. A family this distrustful would have annihilated each other years ago, because we have to assume that Karl didn't become a manic-depressive trigger/hammer-happy psychopath overnight. The ease with which Maggie kills her own brother doesn't ring true either, even though it was a fun plot-twist. The ease with which Karl's PREGNANT girlfriend butchers Maggie rings even less true. Having one brutal female killer in a movie is acceptable, but having two is just stretching the credibility somewhat.Just because all these people are involved with the mob cannot make ALL of them criminally insane, not to this extent anyway. They kill each other off far too easily – within a very small time-frame - while displaying a lack of discipline and self-control that makes me wonder how the hell these people ever even got into organized crime (organized, meaning you don't just go and kill anybody you want off-hand) and how they managed to last longer than an hour. Key word: "organized". If the British mob were this anarchic, it wouldn't exist; it's that simple. Fact is, it's not just the family that is kill-happy, but everyone else also. I was half-expecting a milkman to appear out of nowhere and to start swinging knives and axes around.Again, I refuse to forgive the film on account of it being allegedly a comedy – because it clearly isn't one. (God help DT's writers if they thought they were writing one!) I suppose a lot of the interesting twists came at the expense of logic and credibility, both of these being sacrificed in order to advance the story's interest potential. Even if it were a comedy, it's not a comedy in the ZAZ or even Guy Ritchie vein, hence a certain degree of realism has to be expected.A word of advice to the director and writers: the only way a black comedy can work – i.e. be funny as opposed to just interesting – is to turn it into a stylized, large-than-life venture, not a kitchen-sink ordeal. The kitchen-sink approach works only for drama, never for a comedy within a serious context i.e. a serious subject matter. You can't make a bunch of bonafide psychopaths funny and amusing if you film them with a wobbly camcorder, getting the viewer too close to the reality of their dark existence, warts, kitchen-sinks and all. Plus, you need actors with comedic abilities, and those aren't easy to come by."British Sopranos" my butt. Watch this as a psychological crime drama and you will get something out of it. Watch it as a comedy and you will be extremely disappointed.
stuart_osborn
This low budget British crime drama is as entertaining as it is inspirational for film makers everywhere. Played by a real life father and son in the main character roles, the story revolves around the two men (shot mainly in their real life family home) as they are released from prison and set out to determine who is the police informant in their circle. It makes excellent use of a simple acoustic soundtrack, also helped by the fact that the father likes to play guitar as well and is an old hippy, who has, over the years morphed into a gangster and so is different from your usual cockney style villain. This being shot in Brighton also shows a different side to the city which is usually perceived as simply a holiday destination. The plot while being slightly ambitious is played out by the actors very convincingly and holds your attention throughout. I would encourage anyone to see this movie, apart from maybe Michael Bay!
davideo-2
STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning The plot to Down Terrace is mostly formulaic for the gangster genre- two men being released from prison, belonging to a crime family, trying to suss out the police informant who put them there, and everything going haywire as they near closer to who they think is the culprit. But it seems to think it's cleverer than maybe it is, with so little inspiration to the story and nothing snazzy in other departments. None of the dialogue rings true or feels natural and it's hard to take Jay's dad from The Inbetweeners seriously in one of the gangster roles. Someone else may interpret it a little differently, but personally, the novelty was lost. **