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RocknRolla
Warner Bros. Pictures


7.9

based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 25 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for pervasive language, violence, drug use and brief sexuality

Starring Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Mark Strong, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Toby Kebbell, and Jeremy Piven

RocknRolla is a story of sex, thugs and rock 'n roll. The action comedy takes a dangerous ride into high crime and low life in contemporary London, where real estate has supplanted drugs as the biggest market, and criminals are its most enthusiastic entrepreneurs. But for anyone looking to get in - from small-time crook One Two to shady Russian billionaire Uri Obomavich - there's only one man to see: Lenny Cole. (Warner Bros.)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Crime
WRITTEN BY:	Guy Ritchie
DIRECTED BY:	Guy Ritchie
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 27, 2009 Theatrical: October 8, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	114 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Ritchie concocts a crime-jungle demimonde that's organically linked to the real world, and it's a damn fun one to visit.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

It's all here: the ingenious, obscenity-laced language, the double crosses that turn into triple crosses, the swaggering characters so in love with themselves. GottaLove RocknRolla!

Variety Joe Leydon

A cleverly constructed, sensationally stylish and often darkly hilarious seriocomic caper.

New York Post Kyle Smith

A sharp comedy as well as a punk-pulp spree. Don't go if you can't handle Brit slang. ("Grass" = informer.)

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The bottom line is, all these people chase the same money around with the success of doggie tail-biting, and it's a lot of fun, and it's not often in these con films that everybody is conning everybody, and they're all scared to death, and nobody knows which cup the pea is under.

Premiere Jenni Miller

Though the plot has a few too many holes in it, the sheer fun of RockNRolla makes it easy to overlook such quibbles. Butler will make you forget all about "Sparta."

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Although the characters are all cartoons, Ritchie still invests them with enough personality to make them stand out as real people, which is what makes RocknRolla much more involving than your typical Tarantino ripoff.

Time Richard Corliss

The main problem is that Ritchie keeps playing the same old song. It's a swell tune, and we don't mind hearing it every few years, but we'd welcome another subject in a transposed key. Even the Material Girl tries out fresh material.

Film Threat Mark Bell

If you're a fan of the early Ritchie comedy-crime thrillers, then this is not only right up your alley, it's a long lost relative returning home.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

As is the norm for Ritchie, Rocknrolla is also too long, too coolly violent, and too populated by characters who all talk like they've been reading the same pulp novelist.

Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt

A fast-paced amoral joyride that's more interested in the absurdities of violent criminality (torture by crayfish, anyone?) than the complications of real life.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Watching Guy Ritchie's British-underworld farce, RocknRolla, is like being compelled to pay attention to a nonstop rock station you normally use as background while you're doing chores. The words are catchy and the beat keeps you awake, though all of it quickly fades.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

It's fun to see Tom Wilkinson, for instance, with a massive bald spot virtually eating scenery with a knife and fork.

USA Today Claudia Puig

A well-acted and attitudinal action movie, a return to Ritchie's trademark "Mockney" style, which takes amusing and twisted turns.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

RocknRolla is a kickass crime drama that just doesn't know to quit while it's ahead.

Los Angeles Times Sam Adams

Ritchie whisks you along on a whirlwind tour, but he's not averse to putting on the brakes long enough to admire some of his favorite attractions.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It never generates much interest in its story or affection for its characters, and it's simply not half as funny as it needs to be.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

As punchy and energetic as the first few moments are, the rest of the film quickly falls back into mediocrity.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Like the filmmaking itself, the violence has no passion, no oomph, no sense of real or even feigned purpose.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

On the plus side, the actors - especially Butler and Wilkinson - work overtime to pump some extra life into the self-conscious script.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

This film's got EVERYTHING, although purists might quibble that it lacks any sliver of plausibility or dramatic interest.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

RocknRolla is a copy of a copy of a valuable original, and you know how faint and unintelligible those can be.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

If only RocknRolla's characters were at all believable - even in the context of its own cartoon universe.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Thinking back on watching these performers, I see them mostly as an arrangement of bewildered actors awaiting orders, as if Ritchie hasn't bothered to tell them what he needs them to do. He’d sure make a lousy Mob boss.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Ritchie, who shoots and cuts everything in RocknRolla like an ad for a particularly greasy brand of fragrance for men, delivers the beatings and killings in his trademark atmosphere of morally weightless flash.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

RocknRolla attempts to depict a world of ever-expanding chaos. But the chaos is only in the way the story is told. The actual vision Ritchie offers is pedestrian and tame.

Village Voice Nick Pinkerton

Sum total of scenes that deserved to stay in the final cut: Thandie Newton doing a little shimmying frug.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Frenetic and self-conscious to the point of tedium.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Abhinav R. gave it a7:
Guy Ritchie needs to add some variety to his movies. Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoyed Snatch and Lock Stock but since then, his movies have been pretty much the same. If this is your first Guy Ritchie movie, one more will probably be enough to wrap up his work. 6 out of 10 because it wasn't a bad movie, just a bit cliche for Guy Ritchie.

Albert T. gave it a7:
The story was fine, not Ritchie's best work but certainly interesting enough to hold together a movie, but the movie just didn't quite have the signature character of his earlier crime-action flicks. That said, I still enjoyed it and would recommend it to any die hard Ritchie fans with a couple of hours to kill.

Marek P. gave it a10:
Guy ritchie is back with a true badass movie. After very weak Revolver when everyone thought Guy Ritchie lost his breath after Snatch this great movie came up and its just excellent. I cant wait for DVD.

Jess D. gave it a6:
Not a fun picture to watch although the dialogue is stylish and the story quite confusing. Supposedly mob rogues acting silly and stupid as they go about doing their dirty deeds. Film saved by the final twist in the story but by then who cares. Watch it on DVD if you must.

Paul K. gave it a9:
The critics are off base here. If you enjoyed Snatch or Lock, Stock, this is worth seeing. I was apprehensive based on the Metascore, but this movie is fun and even the notion of a sequel (The Real RocknRolla) got me excited. It probably won't happen, since Ritchie is working on Sherlock Holmes, but i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Georgina Z. gave it a9:
Although similar in some ways to some previous Ritchie films - RocknRolla delivered some tasty/nasty characters and a large number of belly laughs - Great flick for people who like to see those most deserving "get it in the end" *lol*.

James L. gave it a5:
This is not near as good as his previous efforts. It takes a long time to develop, so long in fact that you are just about ready to walk out. It finally starts to come together at the three quarters mark and is enjoyable from there. I would not go out of my way to see this film.

RocknRolla Warner Bros. Pictures

RocknRolla
Warner Bros. Pictures