Ready to Rent Ready to Rent (October 21, 2005)

Layer Cake

Columbia Tristar Home Video VHS & DVD

1hr 45mins

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Drug dealers in movies always come in two types: nefarious monsters like Al Pacino's "Scarface" who readily face oblivion or, the equally mad, stoic and philosophizing kind that is XXXX (Daniel Craig) in director Matthew Vaughn's "Layer Cake." Both types dream big and both types bring a hungry passion to a business in which most characters, in the movies anyway, learn that the larger appetites of their competitors and friends, for money and power, are never sated.

"Layer Cake" is cool Britannia that could almost be an extended car commercial with its suave cinematography and impeccably dressed characters, if it wasn't for the creepy detachment of its anti-hero, XXXX, a drug dealer specializing in cocaine and other substances. XXXX narrates his daily routine with a steely resolve that almost smacks of major career denial. "I am a businessman," he states over and over to the audience, showing how corporate culture has trickled into all walks of life. "One that never takes risks," like the old clichŽ goes, "will retire soon with enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his life." If only he knew his business so well.

Unfortunately, XXXX forgets about the characters the drug trade attracts, especially the kind that he should vehemently avoid like Duke (Jamie Foreman). Duke has gone to Amsterdam and stolen the competition's stash of Ecstasy, wiring ahead to XXXX's boss Jimmy Price, who sends XXXX and his loyal compatriots Gene (the great Colm Meaney) and Terry (Tamar Hassan) to make the deal. Of course it is supposed to be a simple trade-off but, as in all things involving mind- altering substances and commerce, things do not go according to plan. XXXX discovers some double crossing that ruin the hope for his "retirement."

What makes "Layer Cake" so intriguing is XXXX's sense of twisted honor. He feels that the drugs he supplies (i.e. cocaine) are only for the rich and decadent since they are the ones who live in a stratosphere that is somewhat immune from the dealings of pedestrian, everyday citizens. His credo, however, puts him exactly in the same abstract plane as his clients, whom he never really sees (so how does he know exactly where his drugs are going?) and never really cares to know. XXXX mainly deals with the empirical energy of the drug trade, not the nasty, personal after-effects of drug use and this is the interesting notion of detachment that the film delivers.

"Layer Cake" crumbles, especially toward the middle, under its own sense of detachment. Since XXXX is so naturally suave, it is hard to feel any type of urgency for him and, consequently, our attention wanders at times. Director Vaughn, however, wisely keeps the kitsch to a minimum and treats his material and characters with sober assurance that fooled me into thinking that this wasn't his first film. -Joe Ramirez lives in Pleasanton.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.