My best mate bought a copy of this after seeing it on the 'if you enjoyed this, you might also like....' of Pineapple Express, and we thought we knew what we were in for - appealing amateurish British crap to pass an evening. I also thought that it might be made by a bunch of rich kids being self-indulgent. Thankfully, I was wrong; it's far better than that, though, and oddly compelling despite its flaws.
For one thing, there aren't enough martial arts films made in Brighton. In fact, are there any? Although the plot is as bog-standard martial-arts movie as it gets (apart from the inspirational ganja element), it's so great seeing it unfold on Brighton beach, pier and pavilion. Also, there's a cracking score - I've heard worse in big-budget Hollywood flicks. But then none of this would matter if the story didn't work, if there were no good performances and the direction didn't come off. Yet despite a couple of stand-out dreadful actors (old man looking for papers, feisty old woman) the characters are on the whole excellent, especially a Frenchman obsessed with Britain's street cred and marijuana-inspired creativity and their relation to our worth as a nation, a crazy man who lives in a tree, and an agreeably mad villain. I do like a bad guy who enjoys his work. The cinematography gets better as the film goes on and is impressive in scope and intent if not always in execution - in fact that could stand for most of the film, which finds a level of grandeur belied by its obvious lack of budget. In the end it's art. One forgets that montages have been put way too close together, that the continuity is, er, well, there isn't much of it actually, and the other little flaws. What we have is genius, brilliance, originality, comedy, Britishness at its best, and exactly the sort of film that we should be supporting. Even if you don't toke you'll laugh out loud. Can't wait for their next one. By the way if this review seems rambling and incoherent, that's because we just watched the film with the appropriate condiments. ;) Love to all concerned.