LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Louisville88 This film was pure trash. Not the worse film ever. If it were to be broken down, the acting was good enough to get the job done but the script was SO out there and so stupid that one was left thinking, "Where did my life go?" Even Vanessa Redgrave~ whom I love (and is the reason I watched this) was wasted. Utterly wasted. She didn't even leave an impression. The directing was so distant that non of the characters left me much of anything, but to see Redgrave leave nothing. Her part was nothing. She was good as a mean boss but that was it. Do depth and she's given depth to small roles~ see Venus and Atonement. I would not waste my time and was upset to have spent the $5 on this movie...I wanted it back. No returns. Skip the film. It'll only bring you grief...and boredom.

siderite You know Vinnie Jones from playing tough and silent characters that suddenly speak wisdom. While I applaud the attempt to act outside that label, I don't think he did very well in this film. Him and lovely Julie Cox had no chemistry at all. Or maybe I'm just jealous :) Anyway, the script is interesting enough, with a journalist trying to uncover a mystery regarding the death of one of his friends, while in parallel we get a short story/confession written by Dickens himself. Vinnie works so hard not to show up as tough that he gets beaten a few times, forgets dates, gets dumped, is hopelessly goofy and even makes a deal with the obnoxious character.I will give the start of the movie a decent 7, the rest of the film falling slowly, but surely towards a 6, while the ending was completely bonkers: 5. Result: under 6.5 = 6. And I feel bad about it, because this is not a stupid movie. It just tried to be more than the team could do. Sorry.

electriconion99 Ever notice how so many really bad films attract so many 10/10 votes? Not much of a Riddle how that happens, but this is not much of a film. There are two ways of looking at it being given away in the Mail On Sunday.1. It's free, so you can't complain about it to much. 2. It's free, so it can't be much good.My vote is number 2. The free DVD in the Sunday papers things is a recent trend and some great old movies have been given away. They're ones that have been out for ages and have made most of the money they'll ever make, so it's a case of anything else is a bonus. It's the last stop for old films, not the first for new ones, so you can guess how bad this must be to skip TV and DVD rental.The plus points are that Vinnie Jones does try hard and Derek Jacobi is good as Dickens. The minus points are a longer list. Trying isn't the same as succeeding for poor Vinnie and Jacobi's other tramp character is talkative ham that's gone off. The story is very weak. The Dickens story does not have anything to do with the film's murders and feels like another movie slapped onto the script to make people think it's a British Dan Brown without the religion. The supporting cast are either there for the money (Vanessa Redgrave must be really hard up) or because they are friends or girlfriends of the filmmakers. It is also very, very long for what it is.Vinnie taking his priceless Dickens story with him in his jacket pocket everywhere is good for a couple of laughs, but that's it. Not funny and very not good even for free.

Nicole73 This is a small London thriller with a good cast including Vinnie Jones and Julie Cox about a journalist turning detective and a missing Charles Dickens novel.While I agree with the comments that say some of the plot is confusing, I actually really liked seeing Vinnie Jones in something different. Julie Cox is very good opposite him in quite an understated role, usually getting to the clues one step ahead of Jones.I wasn't wild on the Victorian scenes, which were a bit stagey, but they might appeal to a Masterpiece Theater crowd more than me.But Vinnie plays just enough of his usual self to keep it real while moving away from his usual hardman role though I loved him in Lock Stock. I liked that he did not change back to his hardman role at the end, but tries to talk his way out of a tough spot. I would like to see Vinnie Jones given a chance in a really good romantic comedy.