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Though the concept is interesting and quirky, the drama fails to deliver. Read critic reviews
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Once Upon a Time in the Midlands Photos
Movie Info
Jimmy (Robert Carlyle) is a small-time crook living in Glasgow, Scotland, long since absent from the lives of his ex-wife, Shirley (Shirley Henderson), and 12-year-old daughter, Marlene (Finn Atkins), who live in England's Midlands. One day, Jimmy happens to catch Shirley and Marlene on a TV talk show, where Shirley has rejected the proposal of her boyfriend, Dek (Rhys Ifans). Taking this as a sign, Jimmy up and leaves for the Midlands to win Shirley back.
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Rating: R (Language)
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Genre: Comedy, Drama
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Original Language: English (United Kingdom)
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Director: Shane Meadows
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Producer: Andrea Calderwood
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Writer: Paul Fraser, Shane Meadows
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Release Date (Theaters): original
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Release Date (DVD):
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Box Office (Gross USA): $171.8K
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Runtime:
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Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
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Production Co: Big Arty
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Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Surround, Dolby SR
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Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)
Cast & Crew
Critic Reviews for Once Upon a Time in the Midlands
Audience Reviews for Once Upon a Time in the Midlands
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Shane Meadows is without doubt, one of the best British directors around at present. He knows his way around the working class lifestyle of Britain with a welcome and refreshing outlook that has, until his arrival, been commandeered by the likes of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh. Waking up in a drunken haze Glaswegian crook Jimmy (Robert Carlyle) sees his ex, Shirley (Shirley Henderson), being proposed to on a daytime TV chat show. She spurns the proposal of Dek (Rhys Ifans) live on air, leading Jimmy to head back to his old town to claim back Shirley and his young daughter (Finn Atkins), that he left behind years ago. After "TwentyFourSeven" and "A Room for Romeo Brass", this completes Shane Meadows' so called 'midlands trilogy' and with the actors involved, this has an abundance of quality. Despite this though, it's the weakest of the trilogy. That's not to say that there's nothing to enjoy, there is, and its plentiful. It just seems a bit too lighthearted in comparison with Meadows' other films. The excellent actors involved put in fine performances. Ifans and particularly Carlyle are two of the best in the business; Henderson is one of the most underated of actresses, deserving of far more attention and adding Kathy Burke and Ricky Tomlinson for some mild comic relief is always welcome. However, with this undoubted talent onscreen, it only makes it more frustrating that they aren't pushed to the extent that they're capable of. I suppose this is down to Meadows prefering a more humourous approach and if you're aware of this beforehand then you might not feel as disappointed with the lack of danger that he normally applies to certain characters. His use of a spaghetti western theme throughout a 'kitchen-sink' family drama is a wonderful touch though. A good little comedy/drama that certainly entertains but it lacks any real emotional punch and should have made more of the fine ensemble of actors. Meadows' most impressive cast, yet strangely, one of his least impressive films.
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A different film from Shane Meadows. A nice little story that definitely strays from his usual dark story lines. Overall all though I'm always looking foward to a Shane Meadows film
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calling all shane meadow fans, before exellent dead mans shoes, in his own words he did this misfire, again set up north, robert carlyise is a guy coming back to town, but his sweetheart is happily married to rhys ifans, and he wants to win her bsck, so we get a nervous husband going about his day working himself up of a prospect of loosing his wife to this blast frm the past, this film is not really that bad, yes meadows disowns the film but dont even let that put you off, it is the bottom of pile for his films, but considerintg his other films are twentyfourseven, a room for romeo brass, dead mans shoes and last years exellent this is england, calling this a average film on his c.v would be quite inpressive, the storys okay, maybe a bit too long, but rhys ifans especially is great, what is missing is naturalistic acting from non actors, or non proffessional actors, you donr get whats sen in all other shane meadow films, but put him out of mind when watching, its enjoyable, a mistake in his eyes,which lead to dead mans shoes, so a great thing then, meadow fans who havent seen it, its not bad, give it a go
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Been waiting for a while to watch this and found it hard to get hold of. You can certainly see the 'Shane Meadows' stamp on this one, but in comparrison to his other films, it doesn't quite measure up. Meadows himself, is pretty aware of this, as he has spoken of this in interviews. That being said, it's a light entertaining film with some great British actors and although that worked to a certain degree, Meadows talent lies in being able to pick fresh talent/untrained actors creating a gritty life-like situation. This was more of a 'roughed up rom-com' I did like the use of the talk show though, which strangely hasn't been used in any films that I am aware of.
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