Though the film takes a while to cast its spell, writer-director-cinematographer Bernard Rose's close observation of Marks and those around him becomes increasingly involving and allows Rose to comment on the widespread failure of the war on drugs.
Mr. Nice
43 Aliases. 89 Phone Lines. This is the Story of Howard Marks.
2010 · 2h 1m · N/A
Comedy, Crime, Drama
Directed by
Bernard Rose
Overview
Biopic about 1970s Welsh marijuana trafficker Howard Marks, whose inventive smuggling schemes made him a huge success in the drug trade, as well as leading to dealings with both the IRA and British Intelligence. Based on Marks' biography with the same title.
Director and cast
- Bernard Rose Director
- Rhys Ifans as Howard Marks
- Chloë Sevigny as Judy Marks
- David Thewlis as Jim McCann
- Luis Tosar as Craig Lovato
- Crispin Glover as Ernie Combs
- Omid Djalili as Saleem Malik
- Christian McKay as Hamilton McMillan
- Elsa Pataky as Ilze
- Jack Huston as Graham Plinston
- Jamie Harris as Patrick Lane
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
The writer-director tells the story with verve and small-budget ingenuity.
Ifans looks 20 years too old for the part, and the problem with the movie is it seems so desperate to be made that it barely cares that he spends half of his time miscast.
[Ifans] captures the character's charisma and cool, and it's fun to ride shotgun with him. But the script isn't pointed enough to drill beneath the surface.
Effortlessly captures the looks, attitudes and the various mentalities of the period from the late 1960s and early 1970s, through the transition from the hippie era into the Studio 54 days, followed by the Just-Say-No retrenchment of the 1980s.
More films
Evil Aliens (2006)
Comedy · Horror · Science Fiction · R
The sensationalist reporter Michelle Fox presents the TV show Weird World, with phony matters about UFOS and aliens. When she hears about Cat, a young woman that claims that have been abducted with her boyfriend and become pregnant by aliens, she convinces her chief to travel with a team to the remote Welsh island of Scalled to intervi...
- Runtime
- 1h 33m
- Director
- Jake West
- Cast
- Emily Booth, Sam Butler, Jamie Honeybourne
Bugsy (1991)
Crime · Drama · Mystery · R
New York gangster Ben 'Bugsy' Siegel takes a brief business trip to Los Angeles. A sharp-dressing womanizer with a foul temper, Siegel doesn't hesitate to kill or maim anyone crossing him. In L.A. the life, the movies, and most of all strong-willed Virginia Hill detain him while his family wait back home. Then a trip to a run-down gamb...
- Runtime
- 2h 16m
- Director
- Barry Levinson
- Cast
- Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel
K-9 (1989)
Action · Comedy · Crime · PG-13
The extravagant cop Michael Dooley needs some help to fight a drug dealer who has tried to kill him. A "friend" gives him a dog named Jerry Lee (Officer Lewis), who has been trained to smell drugs. With his help, Dooley sets out to put his enemy behind the bars, but Jerry Lee has a personality of his own and works only when he wants to...
- Runtime
- 1h 41m
- Director
- Rod Daniel
- Cast
- Jim Belushi, Mel Harris, Kevin Tighe
My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Comedy · Drama · R
Two carefree pals traveling through rural Alabama on their way back to college are mistakenly arrested and charged with murder. Fortunately, one of them has a cousin who's a lawyer - Vincent Gambini, a former auto mechanic from Brooklyn who has just passed his bar exam after his sixth try. When he arrives with his leather-clad girlfrie...
- Runtime
- 1h 59m
- Director
- Jonathan Lynn
- Cast
- Ralph Macchio, Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei
The Limey (1999)
Crime · Drama · Thriller · R
The Limey follows Wilson, a tough English ex-con who travels to Los Angeles to avenge his daughter's death. Upon arrival, Wilson goes to task battling Valentine and an army of L.A.'s toughest criminals, hoping to find clues and piece together what happened. After surviving a near-death beating, getting thrown from a building and being ...
- Runtime
- 1h 29m
- Director
- Steven Soderbergh, Randy Lowell
- Cast
- Terence Stamp, Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzmán
Underground (2007)
Action · Not Rated
In the UK suburbs, an underground tournament is set to challenge twelve fighters from different backgrounds to compete for the price of £500,000. They have been handpicked for a no-holds barred competition that will push each fighter to their limit. Each fighter has their own reason for competing, and each will give everything they've ...
- Runtime
- 1h 35m
- Director
- Chee Keong Cheung
- Cast
- Mark Strange, Nathan Lewis, Joey Ansah
Bodyguard: A New Beginning (2008)
Action · Drama · Thriller · R
Leung is the bodyguard of a Chinese Triad boss, Wong, to whom his loyalty is unrivaled. Living in Hong Kong, Wong requests that his bodyguard travel to the UK to protect a young British woman, whose true identity is known only by Wong himself. Even Wong's son, Yuen, is kept in the dark, which leads to a betrayal that threatens to destr...
- Runtime
- 1h 35m
- Director
- Chee Keong Cheung
- Cast
- Vincent Sze Cho-Lam, Richard Ng Yiu-Hon, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa











Comments
Talk about the film with other members