Love, Honour and Obey (2000)

To me, this movie is perfection.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Blistering performances.

Bought this dvd years ago on a whim for £3 because it had Ray init , absolutely brilliant & very funny .. I would recommend this film to anyone who loves Ray Winston .

Bored with his hum-drum life as a North London postman, Jonny approaches his pal Jude about getting in with the North London Mob run by Jude's uncle Ray. After winning favour with Ray by bringing a credit card scam into the gang, Jonny starts to spice things up by causing trouble with the rival mob from South London. But although Jonny has won respect from his fellow gang members, he's also getting ideas above his station, and it's not long before his actions put everyone in danger, including their families.So a load of well known British actors make a humorous tongue in cheek satire of the gangster genre, and many failed to get it. Working from a very basic plot and script, directors and writers Dominic Anciano and Ray Burdis gathered the likes of Ray Winstone, Sadie Frost, Jonny Lee Miller, Jude Law, Rhys Ifans, Kathy Burke and Sean Pertwee. And let them run with it. Creating a funny ad-libbed picture that the cast clearly enjoyed making, and really the viewers should be in on the joke as well. Anyone expecting some hard edged Brit gangster film are in for a big disappointment, there is violence and there are drugs, but nothing here is designed for shock value. This really is a fun movie, slyly poking the ribs of gangs and their bosses whilst cutely reminding all that families get involved as well. From the use of Viagra to karaoke sequences, Love, Honour and Obey is a British treasure that has been badly misunderstood. If the fact that the coup de grace at the finale is played out in fancy dress doesn't tell you that it has been taking the urine, well you have walked down the wrong garden path. 8/10

I love this movie. Was spending a lot of time with some Welsh guys in Sydney and they recommended it to me as I am an Elvis and karaoke fan. Probably captures what spare time crims have on their hands better than any other movie. A touch of the Sopranos contained here. The cast is great and everybody I show this movie to thinks it's great. Anyone who doesn't like it is just a muppet and is mugging us all off. I have followed other Ray Winstone movies as a result of this. Probably the only movie that Jude Law looks tough in as well. I think the fact that the actors use their real first names in the movie adds to the appeal. If you don't laugh at this then you have a problem, black comedy at it's best. " FIX BAYONETS !!!"

CONTAINS SPOILERS The thing that has to be remembered is that this film clearly wasn't intended to be serious - We Brits just can't seem to help being cynical in our films.I think what many people have trouble with is the varying change of style - Sometimes its serious (like the ending) and sometimes its a comedy (the dressing up in bridesmaids dresses etc) and this can lead to confusion over how to receive the film.The best aspect is the cast - Ray Winstone (deserves proper stardom), Rhys Ifans (One to watch), Jude Law (you already know him), Jonny Lee Miller (another one to watch), Kathy Burke (seriously underrated actress), Sean Pertwee (vastly improved actor).Overall I liked it for its funny moments. If you decide to buy it yourselves, don't expect a serious Oscar-winning gangster film but rather a cynical view of British crime.