LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS

"You're having a laugh ain't ya?"

Eddie (Moran) was the best card player in London but he needed money to play in a high stakes poker game that could make him a load of cash. Borrowing from his life long friends, Tom (Flemyng), Soap (Fletcher) and Bacon (Statham), they believe they are betting on a sure thing but when Eddie loses he gets them in a whole world of trouble because he now owes Harry 'the Hachette' Lonsdale (Moriarty) £500,000. With only one week to pay, Eddie and the lads have to come up with a plan on how they will get the money.

When it comes to naming the best British movie of the 90s there is one movie that stands out and that is 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'.

Guy Ritchie and producer Matthew Vaughn announced themselves to the world and reinvigorated the British gangster movie genre with this film. Influenced by the classics like 'Get Carter' and 'The Long Good Friday', the movie throws the genre into the Brit Pop influenced 90s and mixes in a huge helping of comedy.

It is this mix that makes 'Lock, Stock…' stand out in an over crowded genre and its success spawned numerous imitations on both sides of the Atlantic. This set the standard for cool and funny gangster comedies and pushed Guy Ritchie into the same league as US indie superstar directors like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriquez. With this success came the trappings of fame. Marriage to the most famous woman on the planet, Madonna, big stars wanting to appear in this movies and been heralded as the next big thing in movie. He lived up to his potential with his follow up 'Snatch' but his third and fourth movies 'Swept Away' and 'Revolver' were box office and critical disasters. With the jury now out on his potential but when you want 'Lock, Stock…' and 'Snatch', you know that Ritchie has the potential to be a great of British cinema.

Combining visual style and a quality script is what made 'Lock, Stock…' such a hit but it is the performances from a then virtually unknown cast that really made the movie a cult classic. Nick Moran leads the line as Eddie, the overly confident gambler who gets the wool well and truly pulled over his eyes during a high stakes poker game with local mobster 'Hatchet' Harry Lonsdale. This is a role that Moran revels in and one that he has been dining on ever since. Dexter Fletcher plays the sceptical cook Soap and easily makes the step from the small screen to the big screen, after been such a favourite in hit children's show 'Press Gang'. Jason Flemyng provides some fantastic one-liners as Tom, in a role that got him noticed by the Hollywood big wigs.

It is Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones that gained the most out of the movie. The combination of their performances in this movie and Ritchie's follow up 'Snatch' that made Hollywood take notice. Jason Statham's career has rocked since this film and not in the comedic way you have might have expected. He is now an action star and one that is flying the flag in a genre that is dominated by the US and Asian. Vinnie Jones became the first football (soccer) player to become a Hollywood actor after starring in the movie. His role as hard man enforcer Chris would lead to roles in 'Swordfish', 'Gone in 60 Seconds' and 'X-Men: The Last Stand'.

'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' is rightfully considered a cult classic. It reinvigorated the British film industry in the 90s and reinforced the 'Cool Britannia' label that the country was revelling at the time. This is the movie that launched many careers and were the highlights of other but the film will be remembered for showing that British filmmakers can produces independent movies that visual stylish, extremely well written and downright cool.