Interesting true story. Very funny at times, especially any scenes involving David Thewlis. Not great though - pacing is off, and writer-director Bernard Rose clearly wasn't sure whether he was making a comedy or drama. As mentioned, it has some funny moments, but then it has some very dark moments too. The comedy makes the drama seem frivolous.Great performance by Rhys Ifans in the lead role. David Thewlis steals the show, however, with his over-the-top performance. Not sure why it was felt necessary to cast Chloe Sevigny in the role of Howard Marks' wife, especially as the character is English. Crispin Glover is also a bit of a waste in his role.

Howard Marks (Rhys Ifans) grew up in a Welsh village, went to Oxford a relative innocent, and emerged from university as a fully-fledged drug smuggler. He subsequently went on to become one of Britain's most celebrated (notorious?) drug barons, leading an exuberant lifestyle while successfully evading most attempts at capture. Bernard Rose's biopic encourages us to admire Rose's chutzpah, as he encounters a variety of shady characters, including practicing IRA member Jim McCann (David Thewlis, speaking in an eccentric Irish accent), and American cartel owner Ernie Combs (Crispin Glover). The film's tone remains lighthearted throughout, and there are some convincing scenes where modern-day actors are inserted into authentically Seventies archive scenes (complete with washed-out colors). But in truth MR. NICE does not have that much to say, either about the ethics - if there can be such a thing - of drug-smuggling, nor about the lengths to which people will go to try and evade customs-officers of various countries. It remains a rather slight crime-caper, distinguished mostly by Ifans' jaunty performance as Howard Marks.

I had really high hopes for this film, I read the book while on holiday and the first DVD I rented when I got back was Mr Nice. I have to say it was the worst book to film that I have even seen. It missed out so much detail and the best parts of the book, it looks like it was shoot on a low budget making it even worse.I wouldn't recommend watching it if you haven't seen the book it drags on through most parts, I know its not that type of film they could of added more action to the film to keep interest but its dull and boring and would of stopped watching it if I hadn't read the book.The guys a legend but it looks as if this film was just for the money

A common problem with biographical films about notorious con-men (or marijuana drug dealers) is whether to show them as sympathetic, or ruthless—as they usually are. The problem with "Mr. Nice" and Howard Marks (Rhys Ifans) is that there wasn't enough meaningful scenes showing us who Howard Marks was at all. For those like me, who didn't know who he was before the film, this is a really big problem.Rhys Ifans is very good at mumbling and speaking rather unintelligibly but making it humorous, entertaining, and somehow understandable. This would be a much more positive trait if the voice of his character wasn't supposed to be as important as it seemingly was. Although I still don't know who he was so I can't say if Howard Marks was an important voice to society or not.It was certainly more artistic and thoughtful than most marijuana movies are, but much less artistic and thoughtful than the best character studies. Again, this is a pretty big problem—if you're expecting more than just a marijuana movie, which I was. I wanted to be educated, while entertained, about this supposedly important person, but I was not.