Layer Cake (June 7/05)

If Layer Cake feels like a watered-down Guy Ritchie film, that's probably because it's been directed by longtime Ritchie producer Matthew Vaughn. The movie features the same sort of emphasis on tough-guy characters and illicit criminal activities, though Vaughn eschews Ritchie's predilection for over-the-top camerawork in favor of a grittier sort of vibe. But that's precisely the reason that Layer Cake just doesn't work; stripped of Ritchie's flashy visuals, the film comes off as a flat riff on a tired genre.

The film stars Daniel Craig as an unnamed drug dealer (the end credits refer to him as XXXX) who - by following a rigid set of rules - successfully eludes the more dangerous aspects of his profession, until his boss (played by Kenneth Cranham) sends him on a risky search-and-rescue mission. That he's also been sent out to retrieve a cache of stolen ecstasy pills only exacerbates matters, and it's not long before XXXX must become the very sort of violent criminal he abhors.

That Layer Cake never becomes an all-out bore is thanks primarily to the performances, particularly Craig - an underrated actor who does a marvelous job of stepping into the shoes of this scarcely developed character. The film is based on a novel by J.J. Connolly (who also wrote the screenplay), and it's clear almost immediately that Connolly is interested in using the characters only as a means to move the virtually incoherent storyline forward. While Craig and a few of his costars (ie Colm Meaney) are undeniably quite effective, they're not given a whole lot to work with; these are the same kind of figures one would expect to find in any film of this ilk (ie the ill-tempered thug, the wacky comic relief, the smooth ladies man, etc).

It certainly doesn't help that the exceedingly heavy accents make it difficult to follow the busy storyline, and since the film is all about plot rather than characters, this becomes increasingly problematic. Yet there's no denying that this is the least of the movie's transgressions, and it's impossible not to wonder why the film has been receiving heaps of kudos from critics and audiences alike.