The Martins (2001)

Such a frustrating disappointment

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

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.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

People seem really divided by this film.The acting is fine and the characters may be real, but they're not the sort of people I want to see on screen ... and especially not in real life. And I'm certainly surprised any of the reviewers here are happy to identify with them. Watching the film, I begin to agree more and more with Aldous Huxley in "Brave New World." This film is full of bad language, features stupid and repulsive people, and is not remotely funny. The basic concept is fine (why my family decided to watch it in the first place), but it's badly-planned, and poorly executed (rather like Grounds' "The Dinner Party" for television).All four of us (aged 55, 42, 16 and 15) gave up after thirty minutes and didn't want to watch any more.

From Tony Grounds, writer and director, also of that one-off special The Dinner Party (which has the main star in it), this isn't a bad black comedy drama about the loser family trying to get a better life. Before I start, I have to say when I saw the poster, I thought it was some kind of spy or action comedy, but never mind. Anway, basically Robert Martin (Lee Evans) enters almost any competition going with big prizes, and his latest attempt saw him towards the finals rounds, but an elderly quite well-off family won instead, Robert obviously blames the paper because they want to make interesting reading. Robert is now on a little bit of rampage with a gun, that he is looking after for a "mate", sticking it out to anyone who is ruining the chance to have a bit more of a better life, mostly for that "luxury holiday" he lost out on. This includes going to the competition runner Hatfield Recorder Editor (Paddy Considine), and of course, the "undeserved" winners Mr. (Frank Finlay) and Mrs. Heath (Barbara Leigh-Hunt) for their tickets. While Robert and the family, wife and mother Angie (Kathy Burke), her mother Anthea (Linda Bassett), and the kids, young son Little Bob (Eric Byrne) and 14-year-old pregnant Katie (Terri Dumont) head off for their stolen holiday, the police are receiving many calls about a man with a gun threatening a school teacher, the competition guy, stealing pet birds, and the elderly couple trapped in the basement. As Robert and family get closer to the holiday, him and Angie seem to be drifting apart, especially when admits to cheating, and she decides that he should leave after the holiday's over. They get there, and are all satisfied, apart from Robert, who is pretty broken with the thought of leaving afterwards. In the end, after Katie has her baby with Robert's help, he is arrested (falsely, well, apart from the gun stuff), a few months later he is released from prison, and it seems things go back to normal. Also starring Frank Finlay as Mr. Heath, Snatch's Lennie James as Police Constable Alex, Jack Shepherd as Detective Inspecter, Mark Strong as Doug, Lorraine Ashbourne as Lil, Tameka Empson as Mo, and a short but humorous appearance by Ray Winstone as Mr. Marvel. It is interesting to see Lee Evans playing a more human character, a family that swears almost as much as The Osbournes, a fun film with all the issues and similarity to a film by Mike Leigh, and a good mix of films Falling Down and The Pursuit of Happiness. Good!

This film is a brilliant depiction of the troubles faced by the working class people in today's society. The inequality of wealth and the divisions of class are displayed brilliantly. The only problem I have is with it being called a comedy. It has its funny moments but overall it is a dark and sad portrayal of the dilemmas that face so many w/c people nowadays and the way they are treated.To all those who have described Lee Evans's character as a scrounger and a "louse" etc. I'd ask if they understood the film at all. Question why he came to be in that position. And what about all the others on that street. How much of a chance do you think his son or daughter is going to have? So shut it, you bourgois bastards. Like he said in the film, "We could have our own Communist state" Brilliant!

Lee Evans plays the head of the Martin family, Robert in this low-budget Brit 'comedy'. The director and screenwriter, Tony Grounds, manages to squander Evans's Chaplinesque talents, and comedic grossness of the female lead, his wife (played by the talented Kathy Burke) who palyed to great effect in another low-budget Brit movie "This Year's Love".There are no funny quips, no amusing side-plots and no opportunities for Evans to show off his amazing face-pulling and physical humour which was used so well in the Hollywood 'Mousetrap'.The screenplay is a mean-spirited view of lower-class life in Hatfield, an innocuous, middle-England new town which is depicted herein as a hot-bed of scum and low-life.The characters are almost too realistic in that respect, but have no redeeming features or quirks that make them appealing. See, for example Mike Leigh's "Life Is Sweet" starring Alison Steadman for an example of how it can be done successfully.I have seen Evans live on stage, and I know how good he can be, and how much the UK public adore his self-depreciating candour. He swears a lot as a matter of course, but this film contains at least 20 minutes of "f***ing" out of its 86 minutes running time, and even manages a "c**t" for good measure (written down as well just in case you missed the verbal expletive.)Highlights of the film: - 14-year old daughter giving birth on the toilet - Lee Evans pulling a gun on his son's teacher and saying 'I hate f****ing teachers' - Lee Evans pulling a gun on an elderly rich couple and saying 'I hate f****ing rich old people' - Lee Evans pulling a gun on a newspaper editor and saying 'I hate f****ing liars' - Lee Evans pulling a gun on his next door neighbour and saying 'I f****ing hate people who look down on me' - Next door neighbour on the other side saying 'You f****ed me last week and I've told my husband' - etc. etc.Lee has reportedly said that he was looking forward to shedding the mullet hair cut and burning it on the film's completion. I should think he is also looking forward to burning all the prints of the film...A Smith London UK