(48%) What maybe could have been the British equivalent of "Reservoir dogs" with its almost single location, tough guy crooks, and talky script sadly just doesn't have the depth to warrant a full length feature length film. The performances on the other hand are really very good from the strong cast, but the lack of any real substance hampers throughout resulting in by the end a somewhat pointless watch. Combine that with a script that for long periods amounts to little more than almost constant cockney based foul mouthed swearing that makes this only a half recommendation mainly for the acting and sadly not a lot whole lot else.

When I heard the plot of the story I expected lots of violence, but what I actually got was something better. Even though nothing really happens in the movie, the characters make it thoroughly entertaining. However, I may have a biased opinion because I love British movies and there complete over-use of the word "cunt". One man broken hearted by his cheating wife and his best friends kidnap her lover. I love how all the characters are so contrasting. We have the gay sophisticate and the mean old man who thinks he is a pervert and a sexual deviant. The loser older guy who still lives with his mom, and the younger tattooed guy in a suit. Even though the whole story consists of these five men in a house, it still captured my attention the entire time.

I, along with most viewers, really enjoyed the laugh-out-loud madness of SEXY BEAST, the previous Cockney gangster film starring Ray Winstone and written by Louis Mellis and David Scinto. When I read about this follow-up, it looked like the same team were ready to tackle a RESERVOIR DOGS style storyline. I was up for it, but it turns out the writers weren't.44 INCH CHEST has possibly the most boring and convoluted plot I can remember watching. It takes ages, and a lot of effort on the part of the actors, to get everyone together into a single setting, building tension with the question - will Ray torture and kill the guy strapped to a chair, the guy who's been conducting an affair with his wife? The film had everything going for it. Winstone in an emotional role, Ian McShane and John Hurt playing to type. Then what happens? It all falls apart. The interesting cast members are made to go and sit outside a door for the rest of the film's duration. It sounds like I'm kidding, but I'm not. So little then happens, the film is reduced to flashbacks and infuriating fantasy sequences that develop nothing of the story.Having watched this, I'm afraid to say it looks like SEXY BEAST was nothing more than a fluke and the writers one-hit wonders.

A clever film, missold as a gangster flick. There are no gangsters in this film. Used car salesman Colin comes home from work and his wife confesses to cheating on him. He loses the plot and beats the crap out of her. This is a film about what goes through his mind afterward. Revenge fantasies mixed with god knows what, and a bit of commentary on the failings of macho culture. As a cinematic portrayal of how a man feels after being cheated on, it's a benchmark, I can't think of a film that does a better job of it. It's a man's film for sure, not pretty other than being well lit, and most of the facets of Colin's personality / most of the other characters are tosspots of the highest order.