You have to be certain type of person to like Mike Leigh's movies. They are never very cheery simply because they are about real people and generally working class people at that. I find his films fascinating and All or Nothing is no different. Leigh tends to use the same actors in many of his films and because they know exactly how he works ,the film works also. This movie is pretty grim even by his standards but not grim in a bad way ( if that makes any sense!). Timothy Spall is superb as a downtrodden taxi Driver who's life is in the doldrums as is the rest of his family. This must have been one of James Corden's first appearances on screen and he's not bad at all. Daniel Mays is particularly brutal too. If you like films about people and their day to day troubles you will love this. It feels almost as if you are intruding on these characters private lives and they are lives that you wouldn't particularly want yourself.
Review of All or Nothing
