Released from prison after three months, Billy wastes no time in getting back into his previous life of stealing and joy riding. Night one back on the streets sees him and girlfriend Jo racing through the streets in a stolen BMW pursued by the police. Not long after he is right back into the "crash and carry" habit, essentially ram-raiding a shop and getting away with as much stuff as possible before the police can respond. However a raid on one shop brings him into direction conflict with gang leader Tommy – who had already arranged a big money deal with Venning to hit the same shop.At the time of release this film benefited from the Daily Mail and other Middle-England tabloids ringing their hands with worry and condemning the film for encouraging youths to replicate the crimes in the film. Over a decade later, stripped of the hype and "controversy", Shopping looks quaintly dated and the portrayal of disaffected youth in a neo-light strobing world of crime and attitude seems old fashioned and a bit silly. This isn't helped by the fact that the script never aspires beyond this basic aim and characters that are never developed beyond the most basic of motivations. The idea that some foreign viewers would watch this and take it to be a realistic portrayal of modern Britain in rather hilarious to me but in fairness, films are under no pressure to be real. This still leaves a fairly simply story with some very poor dialogue and not much material to work with.Anderson's direction is solid enough in terms of style though – which is really where his strengths continue to lie; but as a result he seems to have a limited interest in depth and his input as writer is to blame for the problems with the material. The cast match this by being pretty and famous but not doing much else. Law is skinny and bland and doesn't do anything other than looking like he is having a teenage strop for the majority of the film. Frost isn't much better and it is left to Pertwee to easily steal the film as a memorable if simple tough guy. James is OK while small roles from Bean, Faithful, Pryce and Walker make the film feel crowded with famous faces – not that any of them add much value outside of this.Overall this is a stylish film but one that now looks dated and rather empty. Without the controversy not much is left and the story and characters are too simple to engage most viewers I would suggest. Interesting to see as part of looking at early work for several British actors but probably not interesting or engaging enough to be worth a look on its own merits as a film.

hmm, 'Proof that British Cinema needs to grow up'. i don't think so. Maybe as someone from Britain, you find it a dis-honest depiction for Britain.But, The fact is that its just a movies, fiction, like most movies, and thats all it is. With that said, it's very far from the worst movie i have ever seen. Shopping may be a little slow in some parts, but over-all, it's not a bad movie. I did enjoy it, as did all my house mates, and 99 percent of my friends.Whether the British underground exists or not, does not effect me, nor does it effect most movies viewers around the world. There for thats irrelevant. It's annoying when checking IMDb for info on a movie, and finding the main user comment to be only 10 percent description about the movie, and 90 percent complaining about irrelevant things, or talking about the actor's other movies rather than the one at hand. If your comment is more of a gripe/complaint. then please don't review the movie. Leave the review for someone who will remain focused on what they should be doing. Anyways, I have never been interested in watching most British movies, as i don't find them to have the same flair/feeling as U.S movies. BUT, shopping was one that did keep me watching, and fascinated at times, i enjoyed the sound track, and loved the ending. So people, please remember, peoples opinions are just that. Please do not use 1 or 2 peoples comments to judge if a movie is worth watching. l8r epic.

Jude Law and Sadie Frost star in a film that could of been. Shopping maintains some nice themes and story lines throughout, but is lacking the finishing touch that turns a low budget flop into a cult classic. The script lacks any real originality and creativity, instead opting for attempts at capturing the attention of youth cultures by trying to sum up all of them in one film - this is never going to work.This is a good film, with a lot of potential, but there are a lot of things missing and a lot of things put in that shouldn't be there - Sean Pertwee playing basketball on top of a high rise building just doesn't feel quite right. Combined with a pretty poor performance from Jude Law, even Frost is better, who is generally unconvincing as a troubled tearaway on a downward spiral. He's far too pretty and doesn't have the edge that you want his character to have.Not worth seeing really, but if there are any aspiring, young and creative British film makers out there who want to remake it, i would definitely love to see what they could do.

Having read all the other reviews on this site, I notice that most people either completely hate the film or completely love it. I take the middle ground. I greatly enjoyed the visual elements, both with regard to the good-looking leads and the stylish camera work. I enjoy a film where I can pick out performers from other films and this one offered a few. I recognized Jason Isaacs (Captain Hook in the recent "Peter Pan" film), for one. That being said I was disappointed that Sean Bean's part was so small. However, I was glad Marianne Faithful's role was only a small cameo. It is painful to me to see her looking so haggard. I also enjoyed the pulsating soundtrack and believe that, with an inferior effort, the film would be even less appealing.As others have pointed out, there's not much of a plot, but, beyond that, it was difficult to sympathize with the characters -- other than the police! The law officers in this film were not portrayed as sadistic or even unlikable. Frustrated, yes. The "protagonists" had no redeeming characteristics other than youth, good looks and energy. The film seems to present the viewpoint that the police deserved the treatment they received from the thugs. To me, the film produces a nihilistic, 'who gives a damn' about anything attitude. It made me think about anarchy: after "the system" is demolished, with what will it be replaced?I'm probably waxing too philosophical about a movie that never even aspired to such musings. The producers probably just wanted to give a youthful audience the smash 'em up, 'wham bam thank you ma'am' form of entertainment many seem to want. (Witness "The Fast and the Furious" and Vin Diesel's "XXX" among others.) I like a bit of action, too, but I prefer to care about someone or something along the line.Nevertheless, I maintain that I have seen worse films. I confess to an admiration of British films and actors that causes me to overlook aspects of a movie that I don't like in order to focus on what I consider to be redeeming features. For example, I found Sean Pertwee's character in this film interesting, even if the character is what we Americans like to call a "scumbag". The bottom line, to me, is that the positives -- including the soundtrack, visual elements, and interesting cast -- outweigh the negatives. I bought the film at what you British call a jumble sale for $2.00 (American money), so I'm not out a lot of loot in any case. I will keep the film alongside "Love, Honour and Obey", another second-hand bargain I found along the way. It too, has redeeming features.