All or Nothing - Movie Review

While I am not a big fan of Mike Leigh, I have grown to enjoy the actors that he consistently stocks his movies with. I am a big fan of Lesley Manville, Sally Hawkins and especially Timothy Spall. All of these talented actors are featured in this film of family dysfunction and mundane workaday dialogue called *All or Nothing.

Phil Bassett (Spall) and his wife Penny (Manville) seem to simply be going through the motions. Bassett is a meek cab driver with a low sense of self worth. He tries to provide for his family, yet lowers himself to borrow change from them to pay his weekly radio fee for his taxi dispatch. Penny is a bird that is constantly chirping. Their son Rory (James Corden) tires of her incessant nagging (or "having a go at him" as the dialogue suggests). The couple also have a grown daughter, Rachel (Alison Garland) who still lives at home and works at a senior center. The family would seem completely dysfunctional until they are contrasted with their alcoholic neighbors and a few other eccentric characters in the story.

As Phil contemplates the direction his family is moving, he seems to search for an opportunity for a reset. When his son ends up in the hospital following a heart attack, the entire family seems to gain perspective and even a bit of focus. Their revelations are emotional yet accomplished with a gentle hand. While the story itself was somewhat mediocre it never felt contrived. Like most of Mike Leigh's films, it is more of a character study than a traditional story. However, this film had substance and a more complete ending than some of the other Leigh films I have seen.

The core of Leigh's films, to me, has always been in the banter between his characters. While the dialogue is sometimes too rapid to feel natural, he excels in capturing his characters into a fluid portrait that provides consistency and depth. His characters defy logic in their eccentricities and would seem overdone if it weren't for that fact that I often find myself thinking "I know that guy." Leigh has an ability to shed light in dark places without judgment. He simply opens the closed doors around us and allows us to peek into other people's reality. That provides a stable foundation, but I still prefer a story. As a story, All or Nothing exceeds Leigh's other work. The ending is a bit more rewarding, provides a clear message and doesn't feel like it stops too short. If you are not a fan of character study based films, you will likely find this one to be completely boring.

The most consistent factor in Leigh's character studies are his actors. Leigh has a stable of strong actors that anchor his characters. While I find Timothy Spall to be a flawless actor, I was most impressed with the divergence between Manville's character in Another Year and her character in All or Nothing. At first I did not even recognize her, yet I knew she was in the movie. Her character (and appearance) was so drastically different that it took a minute to set in. There is no typecasting for Manville. The only commonality in these two characters was the element of dysfunction. Her character interpretations were almost polar opposites. Sally Hawkins was much younger in this film and was a devilish tart. I could eat her up. This film is typical Mike Leigh. Exceptional casting providing incredible depth to structured characters in a rather non-existent plot.

All or Nothing was rated R by the MPAA. It is hard to say what the most egregious content was, since the entire film covers family dysfunction. The film has plenty of drinking to include acute alcoholism, strong language, sex, adult themes, smoking and nudity. The nudity was limited to Sally Hawkins breasts in a brief sex scene. Overall, the thematic material was clearly adult, but the overall components of suggestive material were relatively tame. Teenage audiences and above should be fine with this film. The film runs a tad bit long at two hours and eight minutes.

I enjoyed All or Nothing better than Mike Leigh's other films, but it still failed to bowl me over. The plot was bearable, the characters and performances flawless. The pacing was sluggish at times, which this type of film tends to be. Was this film worth the two hour and eight minute run time? Probably. I wouldn't watch it again, but there were some promising qualities in this film. Overall, an average film with above average acting and characters. 6.5/10.