A Room for Romeo Brass (2000)

Sadly Over-hyped

Powerful

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

After being a fan of This Is England for many years, I decided to go back and watch Meadows' other films. First up was this, and I would argue that it is almost on par with This Is England. A great, believable story with great actors. I find it more close to heart as it is filmed in suburban England, which is where I grew up which is a theme I experience with his other films too, it is refreshing to have a normal story instead of Hollywood films. The characters, setting and story are all realistic and believable, it is something that any two friends in your street could experience. The only reason why This Is England is slightly better, is because there is a more hard-hitting ending and more interesting characters in that film. But that is totally fine as this is one of Meadows' earlier films with presumably a lower budget. Sure, some of the accents sound comedic but as most of the actors where new to acting in this film, it is very impressive. It feels like a home movie, in a good way and I look forward to watching more of Meadows' work, he is definitely one of the UK's best. A solid 8 out of 10 stars.

this is a fantastic gem of a film. romeo and knocks are best friends until the former befriends an interesting character called morell who leads the boys down a dark and violent path in his quest to date romeos sister all the while pushing the previously inseparable boys friendship to the test. great characters all round especially from knocks comical dad and a simultaneously hilarious and disturbing performance from paddy considine - who i first saw in 'stoned' - check both out! the film is directed by shane meadows who has also directed a film called dead mans shoes which my house mate tells me is f****** excellent. i was surprised this film isn't better known because i thought it has lots of potential and a cameo from bob hoskins

just sitting here watching this and ...wow...Paddy Considine what a great job he does starts of all nice and shy then starts to turn....and man does he turn .....mind you ....whats up with the dad (bill) ...wheres ya balls ....I do like the way Paddy delivers his performance on this on e and think i will try and find out more about his work! This movie is sure worth a look ! the two boys do a delightful job of keeping the flow of the movie even an appearance by bob hoskins is interesting to see. I'm sitting here watching it and wondering if Paddy is going to make a final comeback after getting his beans ...watching with antisipation

Hugely underrated on release, probably still so now this Is an excellent cautionary tale of friendship & naivety. For all the world It lulls you In to thinking It's a quirky, coming of age drama but mutates Into something very dark - as the main maniac vows. The beauty Is In the simplicity, concentrating on a handful of humdrum people In an unremarkable setting leaving It to the characters & actual story to do the work. It's Paddy Considine's eclectic performance as the small time psycho that dictates the tone & holds the film together - varying from hysterical oddness to very sinister Indeed. Honestly Morell portrays more complexities than many rubbish films I've wasted time/money on.The military green mini-van should be In a museum somewhere as It's priceless and his attempt at seduction Is Inspired. This Is a guy who truly believes a purple shell suit/visor Is going to Impress women - clearly the work of a sick mind. Despite all his great dialogue he's a sort of twisted pied piper, ultimately shown up for what he Is but even after completely losing the plot Considine Is damn funny - ask flash boy. And he must get some sort of award for possibly the least challenging question ever: "do you want me to put a hammer round your yead?, do you want It?" Turning a blind eye to his seriously manipulative, cynical ways Morell would be great entertainment on his own but that would detract from the story. At It's core this Is a sympathetic - almost feel good film and credit to the kids Andrew Shim & Ben Marshall for balanced displays belying the fact they were merely kids at the time. Shane Meadows Is a talented, no gimmick director who will hopefully go far - taking Paddy along with him for the ride.