ThiefHott Too much of everything

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

sub_mish Brilliant if slightly flawed - one for the gutter kids of the 90s.I didn't think I'd like this film after all these years. Boy was I wrong! Billy is actually much more sympathetic than his role suggests, compared to the criminals of today anyway. He's a loser adrenalin junkie, true, but there's something pure, almost artistic about his love of the chase and addiction to capturing and destroying high powered automobiles.He doesn't attack people and he isn't in it to make money - he just loves shopping! By which I mean ram-raiding high class shopping malls and stealing odd bits of crap. Billy isn't antisocial, he loves his father (who has given up on him) and has a great platonic love for his girl, whom he doesn't shag but prefers to stay best friends with. All in all, a very sympathetic character that just couldn't exist today. Bit silly, but then I think you had to be around in the 90s to really appreciate what this film's about - there was that time when nobody had any money and car thieves had the edge on the cops, and all their crimes only involved cars and shops anyway, and who cares about some stupid machine? It reminds me a lot of "Crash" - the JG Ballard novel and the late-nineties film - in that it has that Ballardian acknowlegement that we all secretly want the bomb to drop, we want the bad guy to win, and that's what's so great about Shopping. Considering that he's a posh kid Jude Law's performance is stellar.So if you like the 80s and 90s, like the "industrial" asthetic, love to see cars destroyed, hate (or have hated) authority, watch this film. It's the cools.

lastliberal Paul W. S. Anderson (Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse) has written and directed a film about ram-raiding. What's ram-raiding, you say? Well, I said the same thing. I always thought it was old folks just not knowing the diff between the gas and the brakes and running into shop windows. Apparently, there is a subculture that uses cars to break into stores ans steal.That's what the film is about. Doesn't that interest you? Jude Law (Cold Mountain, The Talented Mr. Ripley) and Sadie Frost (nothing I've seen) are lovers that are competing with a rival - Sean Pertwee (nothing here either) for dominance of the yahoos that steal for a living. Ho hum.Jonathan Pryce (Governor Weatherby) has a minor role, but certainly the best one.Skip it.

bob the moo 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.

epicmindz 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.