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Parents' Guide to

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Fast-paced romp has violence, gangsters, drugs.

Movie R 1999 107 minutes
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 15+

Based on 3 parent reviews

novikevich.a
novikevich.a Adult
February 21, 2021
age 16+

Something fresh in the crime genre

The movie engages yourself from the first seconds and until the end. Quick and with a good sense of humour. There is no one main character which you would be able to empathize. The whole movie is funny and incredible a combination of circumstances that make you smile.Also Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

This title has:

Too much swearing
Cazamic
Cazamic Parent
March 20, 2013
age 15+

Stephen Marcus runs a Gangster Tour in London

I loved this film and recently took my kids on a gangster tour of London which actor as Stephen Marcus runs.

This title has:

Too much violence
See all 3 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Four Londoners (Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, and Jason Statham) save up their money to enter their buddy in a high-stakes poker game. Despite his skill at reading faces, he loses and they now owe a fortune to a tough gangster. They learn through their next-door neighbors -- whom they can hear talking through thin walls -- where they can find a huge stash of pot (and cash) with little or no security. They design a complex plan to steal it, involving a host of other gangsters and thugs, but of course everything goes wrong. It's then up to coincidence and dumb luck to save the day.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3 ):
Kids say (4 ):

This is an energetic, clever crime movie that looks into various little pockets of underworld life -- sex, gambling, drugs, and hired thugs -- and uses them all against one another. At the time, it looked as if Guy Ritchie were yet another opportunist cashing in on the Quentin Tarantino fever of the 1990s (and indeed, Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction were even more popular in Ritchie's home of England than they were in America). But in retrospect, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels turned out to be much more than that.

Ritchie's camera work is smooth and sprightly, and he has a definite rhythm for slang and profanity in his dialogue. He also has an eye for character actors, and at least two, Vinnie Jones and Jason Flemyng have gone on to interesting careers, while Jason Statham has become a full-fledged star. His way of diffusing violence with humor still definitely owes a little to Tarantino, but it works. Movie-savvy teens will likely be aware of the movie, since it's developed a cult following, but parents should be warned that the violence, though light in tone, is still intense.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the movie's violence. What is the tone of the violence? How does he diffuse the tension?

  • Are there any role models in this movie? Are the four heroes good characters, even though they do bad things?

  • Does this movie make crime look fun and/or appealing?

  • Why aren't there very many women in this world, or in this story? How are the few women treated?

Movie Details

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