Today’s movie: Love, Honour and Obey

Sometimes Tivo Sugestions are really brilliant, yeah. Jonny Lee Miller gets lifelong pal Jude Law to bring him into uncle Ray Winstone’s North London mob in Love, Honour and Obey and, fancy that, Jonny is after a bit more of the old bang bang than Ray and Jude are really up for. Definitely one of those quirky English gangster films of recent years like Sexy Beast and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and not a bad example at that. In a strange twist, most, but not all, of the characters have the same first name as the actor playing the part.

Jonny is a courier bored out of his skull with life. He’s a childhood buddy of Jude’s and sees the mob as a way out of his troubles. Jude is not inclined to bring him in but Jonny comes up with a moneymaking scheme that clinches the deal. Soon enough he’s showing signs that he’s much more aggressive than the others, who seem content to earn their dosh and explore their sexual inadequacies. This aggresiveness leads to a series of mishaps for know-nothing gang member Perry beginning with a stabbing (by Jonny) and ending with a revenge firebombing (to revenge an unauthorized action by Jonny against the other gang). It also almost brings open warfare against the rival South London gang. No one can get quite to the level of anger and despair, other than Jonny, though, and so the two leaders find a way out.

Ray is married to TV star Sadie. One part of the movie that doesn’t match up with the rest is a subplot where Sadie’s co-star on a soap opera tries to play up a romance between the two. This does piss off Ray no end, of course, and lead to a serious beating for the co-star but the only way it ties back into the main plot is to show that even a tough guy can be lead around by a woman.

Recommended if you can put up with not quite understanding all the dialog due to British accents and overly loud soundtrack.