All Or Nothing Movie
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Storyline
TAGLINES PLOT SUMMARY
Penny's love for her partner, taxi-driver Phil, has run dry. He is a gentle, philosophical guy, and she works on the checkout at a supermarket. Their daughter Rachel cleans in a home for elderly people, and their son Rory is unemployed and aggressive. The joy has gone out of Phil's and Penny's life, but when an unexpected tragedy occurs, they are brought together to rediscover their love. All or Nothing is set on a London working-class housing estate over a long weekend, and also tells the stories of a range of Phil and Penny's neighbors, some of whom become involved in the family's lives, and all of whom experience an emotional journey.
| Timothy Spall | Phil |
| Lesley Manville | Penny |
| Alison Garland | Rachel |
| James Corden | Rory |
| Ruth Sheen | Maureen |
| Marion Bailey | Carol |
| Paul Jesson | Ron |
| Sam Kelly | Sid |
| Kathryn Hunter | Cécile |
| Sally Hawkins | Samantha |
| Helen Coker | Donna |
| Daniel Mays | Jason |
| Ben Crompton | Craig |
| Robert Wilfort | Dr. Simon Griffith |
| Gary McDonald | Neville |
| Mike Leigh |
7.50 out of 10 (2497 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Nothing....obviously
posted on 17 Jun 2009I know this is a bit Harry Knowles, but watching this film brought back some interesting memories…Many years ago, when I was a young sweet lad, I used to live in a squat. Why I was there is another story, but it was a pretty good example of the squats of the eighties. It was above a betting shop and in a pretty rough area of North London. It was not, however, a complete hovel; the rooms weren't covered in filth and it had a kitchen and bathroom that worked. Indeed some of the people actually decorated their rooms. Most of us worked in the video or record retail industry down the West End and despite a lack of finances we had some great times. Anyway… through a connection I wont go into, one day this location scout for the latest Mike Leigh film turned up (see, I'm getting there), I think it was for 'High Hopes'. Those of us who weren't working that morning, were scrunched up in the front room watching some children's programmes on the TV, bowls of cereal cupped in our hands; when suddenly this young, pretty, girl bounds into the room and starts taking pictures. It was if we had been suddenly transported to some human safari park where we were the exhibits. After taking a number of snaps at rather strange angles she boomed, 'Hello! I'm doing some location research for Mike Leigh's latest.' She paused, allowing us time to absorb this rather perplexing information, and then in her best patronizing manner she stated, 'Of course, you do know who Mike Leigh is, don't you?'.I've always liked Mike Leigh's work, right from 'Bleak Moments', through his great TV work to ' Topsy Turvy', but there's always been the feeling that his approach towards the great unwashed has been a little patronizing. Watching this incredibly miserable (depressing is not the right word) film, I couldn't help feeling he was dictating to us what pathetic lives these people lead.With the notable exception of Ruth Sheen, everything is so defeatist in this film. As usual a crisis leads to them re-examining their lives and I guess a smidgen of hope returns at the end, but it's a very small light in a dark pit of despair.To be fair, it's brilliantly done. Leigh has now assembled a formidable cast who are used to his 'improvisational' techniques, especially, the already mentioned Ruth Sheen and Timothy Spall, as the terminally depressed mini-cab driver. It just feels dishonest. This film doesn't represent the working class, but rather, a glib middle-class view of it. So I guess I do know who Mike Leigh is.
I really wanted to see this film!
posted on 15 Jun 2009..and glad that I did. Mike Leigh's earlier forays (Life is sweet/Secrets and Lies - all on DVD) lead you into this latest slice of "council estate" life in UK. Mike Leigh's method of getting his cast to explore their characters in depth before filming starts, provides a wealth of emotion upon which to draw once filming commences.Timothy Spall has you reaching for the rolling pin, while you will want to punch the lights out of the family's large unemployed son. It's pretty tense, but for once there is a nice ending and the dysfunctional family seem on the point of getting on with their sorry lot.Bitter, sweet, funny and frustrating - not a film to pass the evening away. We were both having to stop the DVD and argue/berate/discuss as we went along - a wonderful recommendation!
The convincing delivery on all counts cover for the unrelenting bleakness of the whole thing
posted on 18 May 2009On a typical council estate in London, several families live in flats within the same complex. Some rely on drink to numb the days and nights, some don't work and do little other than hand around, some flirt to give themselves worth while others stay in abusive relationships for reasons only they can know. Within this world taxi driver Phil lives with his partner Penny, who works the checkout at the local Safeways. Neither of them are very close and their family live is one of quiet non-resistance. Son Rory spends his life on the sofa and is quick to abuse, while sister Rachel works quietly as a cleaner in an old folk's home. Their neighbours and friends live similar lives, with empty relationships and hopelessness seemingly being the norm.At time of writing IMDb has the genre tags "drama" and "comedy" listed for this title which sees them manage to over and underestimate both genres as it has plenty of the former and barely a scene of the latter. Coming as it does from Mike Leigh, nobody will be surprised to find that this film is a gritty look at the lives of a group of people on a London council estate, sharing flats in the same block complex. There isn't really one story for the most part, although in the final third there is one main event that directs the story; for the majority the film just crawls along at a very slow pace observing the characters and their situations. In this regard the film is very well done because it is utterly convincing. This isn't the world of the deprived and the poor but rather the world of the people who work the basic jobs, eat the processed food, watch Corrie, play the lottery and live in the areas avoided by those who can afford to do so. I'm not trying to generalise but this is where the film is set and even those who just see this world as they drive through or shop in Asda, will recognise it. I was engaged by it, not because the story was thrilling but just because of how very real it was.The downside is that the film is unrelentingly bleak and slow. There is hardly an upbeat moment in it and I did think that this damaged the film because such lives do not totally lack pleasure, it is just that the pleasure is perhaps simple; however the only character I felt got this was Maureen. This aspect of the film will frustrate many viewers who cannot find anything that makes them keep watching, however it will also appeal to others who embrace this wonderful realistic film that is not "commercial". The truth is that both camps are partly right because, although it is a stronger film for being so downbeat and convincing, it is also weaker for making this the whole show. Personally speaking though, I thought the positive side of the approach won out over the slow pace and depressing nature of it.The cast mostly rise to the challenge of the material, producing performances that only serve to make the convincing material work better. Spall is good but I did find him to be all a bit too sad-eyed and pathetic. At the start he was perfect but I felt he didn't grow his character and his "revelations" towards the end didn't totally convince. Conversely Manville dominated the film with a character that she totally made her own and developed really well, to me she was the heart and soul of the film. Around these two the rest of the cast have smaller parts but all do good work. Garland and Corden are both good as the children; Sheen is convincing as the "turned out alright" type; Bailey and Jesson do so-so with simple characters that don't get much beyond caricature. Kelly was wonderfully empty and needy while Hawkins got the council estate flirt just right – sexual and feeling powerful but yet vulnerable just below the surface. Coker, Mays, Hunter and others all do just as well with solid characters. For all that it was depressing, I did find myself engaged by the characters – the convincing sense of unfocused anger/frustration in some, the broken and tired nature of others with nothing behind dead eyes, all of them having fleeting moments of honest emotion that are gone as quickly as they come – these are people I know and people I live beside.Overall then, a film that is slow and endlessly bleak and I understand why some viewers have struggled with it. However it is convincing in its direction, writing and delivery by the cast and it is the feeling of reality that engaged me and held me despite of the script failing to find a real sense of humanity below the bleakness of the council estate life.
worth a hundred other films
posted on 08 May 2009This film is worth a hundred others because it is not an exercise in making a
product and marketing it successfully- instead it is a statement by a man who is
a true director, someone who feels passionately about the world we live in, and
uses this fantastic medium to its highest potential.The film is ultimately about a man (Phil, Timothy Spall) who has philosophized
about life to the point where nothing matters to him anymore. The only thing that
brings him back around the world of the living is (the only thing any of us really
need for happiness)... Love.For me, that is one of the most pertinent and beautiful things that someone with
a voice in society can say.P.S. It is highly likely that if anyone found this film 'too depressing' than they are not
really primed to expect anything other than the beauty and predictability ofhollywood film. And in response to the chap who refutes the existence of such
misery in the real world: you are obviously a lucky, privileged
chap.
Life - like I remember it
posted on 22 Apr 2009Mike Leigh, in my opinion, is the greatest director ever! He needs no animations, CGI, big named stars or million dollar budgets to produce films of pure, simple genius. All or Nothing is no exception and is proving that as he ages his films have gotten better and better.All or Nothing reminds me of life on a council estate as I remember it when I was a kid. There used to be flats on our estate that, although not the same in appearance, where practically the same in their inhabitants: the drunk family, the quiet family (Phil's and Penny's family), the druggie families, the slightly odd kid, the angry violent boyfriend, the single mum with foul-mouth daughter. They were all there. Anyone who knows life on an estate like this would wonder how Mike Leigh can put together such an accurate snapshot into the lives of these families.Mike's films are totally captivating. To some, it might appear like nothing really happens in them, but what I see in them is a reality that is like nothing else on film. Sometimes they're funny, sometimes so almost unwatchably painful but never, ever dull or predictable.Once you're a Mike Leigh fan you're taken to a different level. I just can't take American movies seriously anymore.
How much misery can you squeeze into one film?
posted on 04 Apr 2009Mike Leigh has gone too far with this one. This style of filmmaking has gone past its sell-by-date. I am sorry, but people just do not live like that any more. That level of poverty is not consistent with a family of three wage earners. What would Safeway have to say !Yes, you can find poor accommodation in South London (although this film did stretch it to the extreme); yes, you can find unhealthy people; yes, you can find miserable people. But.... would you ever find a micro-community like this where everyone is so screwed up and hopelessly wretched? These people would have committed suicide years ago. They did not even have any redeeming qualities and not one ounce of humour.Not only did this film bore me, it made me angry. I moved to Australia from SE England a few months ago. I watched this film surrounded by my new countrymen. I felt like standing up in the cinema and shouting 'Don't believe it, nowhere in England is this depressing'.OK, so there is nothing wrong with a film about 'real' characters no matter how dark they are. However, these characters are not real, they are made up stereotypes. This film is an insult to the type of society that Leigh thinks he is portraying.
The "every man" aspect of this film engages the viewer and creates a personal connection...
posted on 21 Feb 2009"All or Nothing" shows that an individual's happiness is the direct result of his or her attitude and choices. Throughout "All or Nothing", the characters are engaged in various self-destructive and demoralizing behaviors. Specific examples of this are best captured, cinematic ally, in three particular scenes: the opening scene of Rachel in the nursing home; Penny, Phil, and Rachel(matriarch, patriarch, daughter)in the kitchen; and the closing scene. The territorial space in each of these scenes exploits the social and emotional confinement of the characters.In the opening scene as Rachel, the ambitionless daughter, mops robotically down the long hallway,she is tightly framed by the walls. When the elderly woman walks down the hall, towards the camera, Rachel appears to be trapped within the corridor's narrow width. The colors of her skirt and smock blend in with the surrounding hue of the walls. Her fading into the background, literally, is synonymous of her life choices to take the safe, least threatening, and stable route.Timothy Spall's portrayal of Phil is brilliant as he interpret's Leigh's English working class life. The awkward and dysfunctional dynamics of Phil's family are the direct result of his choices and approach to life. When Phil enters the apartment and walks into the kitchen, he is framed on one side by the relationship he has neglected and the other by the product of his disconnected parenting and poor mentoring. He is unable to maintain any personal space in his taxi and the viewer sees that he lacks any greater control in his home. In this scene, he is so tightly constricted that movement is not possible. Both with their back facing him, Penny and Rachel barely acknowledge Phil as he attempts to make small talk. Without sharing too much, the closing scene is also very well directed to further underscore the storyline and theme."All or Nothing" similar cinematic touch is also seen in "Secrets and Lies". Leigh consistently uses 2-shots and closed forms to tell the struggles of the characters in both movies.The theme is reiterated and simplified when Phil states to himself, "Life is too short". Each person's acceptance of their responsibility for the state of his or her life is paramount "All or Nothing's" theme. Commanding one's own destiny through employment, friends, and intimate partner choices is personal journey that everyone faces. The "every man" aspect of this film engages the viewer and creates a personal connection between the audience and characters.
This is what a MOVIE is!
posted on 10 Jan 2009During this movie, at one point, I thought, it's like I've never seen a movie before. ALL OR NOTHING is that good. It's like watching the perfect ripening of a whole new art form.Mike Leigh's long years in the service of film pay off supremely in this beautifully nuanced portrayal of a few days in the lives of a few "average" people. He and his incredible team of actors and technical crew perform an exquisite ensemble-piece. The direction, the acting, the cinematography, all of a piece, in the service of true art. Not a bit of excess, and despite the lack of traditional movie-fripperies, it doesn't seem any corners were cut either. Some really gorgeous stuff goes on here.Every bit of talent and ego are offered up in the service of true storytelling--in the ancient, incredibly important sense. Telling US who WE are, as a species on this planet.I see no polemic or diatribe in ALL OR NOTHING. Politics or class is not an issue, not even a subtext. The characters, the setting, this is just what and who they are, where they were when these events happened.For the actors, it must have been such luxury, to be able to truly explore, truly portray these souls. Subtly, carefully, freely, with depth and economy of feeling. Such caring. Such honesty. Such bravery.By the time the movie is over, we feel we know something very special about our species.A very, very moving experience. I can't recommend ALL OR NOTHING highly enough. I will definitely be seeing this one again.
Heavy going but excellent
posted on 21 Nov 2008There's no question that this film is back in line with what Mike Leigh is known for, excellent portrayals of British working class life. There is no question that much of the two hours is very heavy and somewhat depressing but the character studies and the the focus on the details of the characters' everyday life is stunning. The housing estate in south-east London is not represented in anything other than a realistic way, as is the life of a minicab driver.I highly recommend this film as being worth the effort of watching it.
A hard day's night
posted on 30 Jun 2008A drama about the working poor in London highlighting the kinds of problems a lot of people with limited resources face, such as alcoholism, obesity, and teen pregnancies. It takes the viewer down a pretty dismal path but does so in powerful and touching scenes. Timothy Spall, as the taxi driver and father of two overweight adult children, is a complete natural in his performance, looking like he's beaten down, but inside carrying a lot of human warmth that just needs an opportunity to show itself. The film has plenty of drama and courage, giving us the unglamorous characters with the kind of lives that would challenge anyone to locate the positive.
Don't waste your time.
posted on 27 Apr 2008If you're looking for a real downer, this is it. I've enjoyed Timothy Spall's work in other movies but, "All or Nothing" left me cold. His acting here, as a total loser, is very believable. I did have sympathy for Penny (the mother) and even for Rachel (the daughter) who, because they worked so hard, deserved more. Fnding myself hoping that the son would die is not what I want to get out of a movie. If the mother and or daughter would have left to make a better life, then this movie would have had some redeeming quality. If this is anywhere close to a true representation of life in England today, then Great Britain is well on its way to becoming a Third World nation. I've rated this movie as a "1" only because there's no lower number to assign. Again, don't waste your time and, for God's sake, don't pay any money to rent this turkey.
You can't be great all the time
posted on 19 Apr 2008Mike Leigh has made some fantastic cinema...Easily the very best to come out of the UK in the last 30yrs, a league above the competition*...but this is a turd of a movie...deeply patronising.Over simple and under developed, why oh why did he not just say "This is not working!" and scrap it?The "Green Cauliflower" line at the end made me want to slap him.But his other work is so fantastic that it is easy to forgive him.Please, go watch Abigail's Party, Nuts in May, The one about the adopted sister, Naked & Vera Drake, but give this a miss.*mmmh, I wonder what a Mike Leigh/Guy Richie collaboration would end up like? It could be either the greatest or the worst movie ever...I say go for it!
Mike Leigh at his best
posted on 09 Apr 2008Lovers of action, excitement and twisting, turning plots should read no further - this one's not for you. But lovers of Mike Leigh's microscope style will enjoy this movie no end. Set in a depressing part of South-East London, we follow the "fortunes" of a central family and their entourage on a sink estate. It's charming, it's witty, it's sad, it's thought-provoking.
The cinema of compassion
posted on 03 Dec 2007It is a matter for conjecture as to whether the shot backing the opening credits of "All or Nothing" is a reference to Ozu. Certainly that restricted view looking down a corridor in an old peoples' home with a cleaner in middle distance and the brief appearance of one of the inmates beyond is an instant reminder of the Japanese master, but thereafter the improvisatory acting style of this fairly recent Mike Leigh film is all his own. Nevertheless this opening is a prompt to look for similarities if not of style then of content. Ozu's work is a meditation on human frailty generally arriving at the view that life is disappointing. The only thing is to accept this and to attempt to gain strength by coming to terms with the need to make, albeit however small, a contribution towards improving the human condition. Almost without exception this is what Mike Leigh aims to express but in a way he goes one stage further in the amazing compassion he shows towards his generally weak characters. Like Ozu he tends to concentrate on a small family unit, in this case a world-weary disillusioned taxi driver, his partner who works at the checkout in the local supermarket and their overweight late adolescent/early twenties offspring, a girl who cleans in a a home for the elderly whose only pleasure seems to be reading and a boy who refuses to work and stuffs himself with all the wrong food in front of the telly all day. There is not much joy for this family who do little but exist in a drab graffiti splashed London housing estate. Father and daughter are in states of passive acceptance of their lots while mother and son are always bickering and griping. As in most of Leigh's work it takes a crisis to shake these people up, not so much a big thing like a death - he seemed to get this out of his system early on with "Abigail'a Party" - but a trauma like an illness or an accident that is possible to get over. There is a wonderful penultimate scene where the adult partners (brillianty played by Timothy Spall and Lesley Manville) manage to struggle towards an understanding and a postscript with the four main characters in a hospital ward that exemplifies the extent of Leigh's compassion for these people, without which we would have participated in a very negative experience rather than one so richly rewarding. If I have one reservation it is that with the exception of his greatest work, "Secrets and Lies" (I have still to see "Vera Drake") and "Topsy-Turvy", which is something quite different, Leigh never quite seems to shake off his predilection for the odd grotesquely over-the-top character, the bloke with aspirations to run a gourmet restaurant in "Life is Sweet" or the girl with the facial twitch in "Career Grirls". In "All or Nothing" it is the foul-mouthed monster who gets a girl living nearby pregnant that is the one seriously jarring note. This apart "All or Nothing" runs his finest work very close.
Another unqualified masterpiece of the heart
posted on 20 Oct 2007As an on-again, off-again bosomely-endowed backdoor-friendly regularly-churchgoing cheerleader with a headfull of exciting things to say, I was most pleased with this pseudo-English director's most recent half-baked meditation on postmodern inner city class conflicts and the so-called bipolar human condition. Mr. "take-it-or-leave-it" Leigh serves up a veritable Christopher Atkins diet of hi-cal bits and pieces that indie-turned-commercial-film lovers like myself love to feast on endlessly, and this soup du jour, "All or Nothing," does not tremendously disappoint, unlike virtually all of his other works in so-called progress. Indeed, I can say with nearly complete certainty that I did not fall asleep once during this beloved two hour psychodrama of the highest calibre. Thank you for this high-velocity, anus-ripping, totally preachy, long-overdue, somewhat-praiseworthy film.
A Cheap Holiday In Other People's Misery
posted on 14 Oct 2007I really like some of Mike Leigh's films - 'Nuts In May' and 'Abigail's Party' are classics. Sadly, although the themes of insightful portrayal into class-ridden British society are present, 'All Or Nothing' lacks any of the vitality or wit of the earlier films. As is well-documented, the film centres on the lives of three similar families living on a wretched council estate in London. The estate is a grim urban wasteland that could reasonably be mistaken for a run-down area of Poland. Their family relationships are broken and unhappy; their love lives abject failures; what work they do is soul-destroying and banal; sex is violent and dirty. Nothing ever relieves the misery, save the occasional wry laugh in the face of it all. And, as if the themes, setting and plot don't ram home the message hard enough, the film is soundtracked by a constant weeping of violins and woodwind. Be in no doubt: this film tells us to Pity The Working Classes. Yet this film is made by, marketed to, acted by and watched by middle class people. They only show this at arthouse cinemas. This film simply caricatures people in order to give the angst-ridden middle classes a chance to feel a little more authentic. Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols once sang of 'a cheap holiday in other people's misery'. That's what this film is.
Mike Leigh at his best
posted on 25 Aug 2007A pinhead would find this "too depressing", or perhaps, a social pig who never worked a day in his or her life. As a person who spent a decade driving a taxi (albeit in the US), and living amongst real people, this film was like a documentary. Not one line of dialogue, or situation in this film didn't ring true. So far above and removed from the slick rubbish that Hollywood is troweling out these days, I will indeed find it difficult to go out and rent the latest, slick, US offering. I have enjoyed Mike Leigh's genius since "Hope and Glory", and was thrilled to see "Secrets and Lies" deservedly win an Oscar. This film, in my estimation, was a better film than that. Two names to look for in directors of British films; Mike Leigh, and Ken Loach.
Like "Happiness" but without the humour
posted on 12 Jul 2007Every single character is either fat, stupid, unable to communicate, unable to enjoy life or a combination of the afore mentioned. This movie goes out of its way to rub in the ways in which communication can fail and it tries a lot to be supposedly different to Hollywood garbage. Yet I can't help thinking that this is a great movie for people who hate people and really quite enjoy a feeling of superiority to all the idiocy and misery in this movie. There are 2 ways of escaping the fact you are boring, fat and stupid: Watch action movies or watch movies about even more boring, fat and stupid people. Most of the characters are very clichéd. There's this French lady with her unconvincing broken English who happens to use only French words that any half-schooled supposedly intelligent and irony-understanding genius who likes films like this will understand. Having said all that - I wish there was some kind of miracle and a year in which only movies like this were released worldwide and people would be so p..ed off... Especially in the Land of unlimited opportunities. Better yet, have them be films with some wit like "Happiness".
A Curate's Egg (possible mild spoiler)
posted on 11 Jul 2009Everyone knows Mike Leigh is a great film-maker, and I think his modus operandi (where the actors get to know their characters and are then given scenes to play, but without knowing how they fit into the overall story) is unique and brilliant. How better achieve a naturalistic style than by taking away the element of crescendo that usually operates in conventional film-making? Even though most films are not shot in sequence, the actors always know whereabouts in the story the scenes occur; with the Mike Leigh method, they don't know, and are forced to play the scenes as they come, as we all do in our lives - after all, when I have an interaction with a shopkeeper, I don't know "whereabouts in the story" it occurs!Anyway, what about this film? If I had to use only one word to sum it up, it would be "exhausting". The drabness is relentless, and raises a question as to whether the depiction of drab lives needs to be drab itself. I don't think it does, and Leigh himself has shown us this in many of his earlier works. The pace is slow throughout. I don't have a problem with that, quite the reverse. However, at some points it virtually grinds to a halt.
Unlike some, I found the money-gathering sequence almost excruciating; and the climactic (for want of a better word) scene between Tim Spall and Lesley Manville was skating on thin ice too.That leads on to something I never thought I'd see in a Mike Leigh film: a pat, unearned happy ending (or happy relative to the rest of the film). In that long scene between Spall and Manville, he says something about their relationship which strikes me as being very true - and yet this is negated by the film's ending. I don't know if Leigh bottled out, or wanted to provide some light at the end of what has been such a sombre story - and maybe it's perverse to decry such a ray of hope in the midst of such bleakness - but it felt to me that he hedged his bets. Both I and the friend I went with found the ending unbelievable, and I'd be interested to know if others felt similarly cheated.On the acting side, there are credits and debits, and a couple of "not-sures": for me, the best thing in this film is Ruth Sheen as Maureen.
she seemed the most rounded and appealing character, and also provided many of the films funnier moments. I wasn't so sure about Donna Coker as her daughter, though, she put me in mind of Greg Crutwell in Naked - too much scowling! Sally Hawkins was good as the despairing daughter of hopeless parents - but Marion Bailey as the lush mother was beyond caricature, and reminded me of Joanna Lumley's Patsy Stone [in Absolutely Fabulous] in her most grotesque moments. And Kathryn Hunter's faux-French Cecile was unforgiveable: Has Mike Leigh ever met a French person?? NOBODY TALKS LIKE THAT, Mike!What of the central family? Tim Spall is a national treasure and does some good work here; however, I found his character infuriating and his gnomic utterances ("it's Kismet, innit?") jarring. He was so inert that I wanted to give him a good slap. Lesley Manville is a hugely likeable and warm actor and gives her all in this part, but somehow I didn't connect with her.
Maybe it was because playing opposite Tim Spall's character was like playing to a blank screen, with nothing to play off.It was their children who struck home for me: David Corden was both revolting and heartbreaking as the enormous man-child of a son, his tantrums totally believable; and Alison Garland as the equally overweight daughter was very touching: caring, sweet, ground-down and trying to be take up as little space as possible, a cruelly ironic fate that can indeed be the fate of introverted and overweight children. These two young people provided the emotional core and pathos in a film that spent a lot of time (and it was surely half an hour longer than it needed to be) grovelling around in the bilges of the human experience without finding much that made the search worthwhile.