Parents' Guide to

Sexy Beast

By Alistair Lawrence, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

British cult gangster flick has language, nudity, violence.

Movie R 2001 89 minutes
Sexy Beast Poster Image

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

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Is It Any Good?

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The debut feature from Jonathan Glazer is a British gangster movie with some surreal flourishes, perhaps formed partly by the director's previous work on high-end advertising campaigns. Further distinguishing Sexy Beast as a crime caper with a difference are two familiar faces cast against type. Winstone stars as Gal, a career criminal whose temper and physique have both softened with retirement. Meanwhile Ben Kingsley attacks his supporting role with the same frothing intensity that his wildcard Don launches himself at anyone and anything that gets in his way.

The sun-baked setting and performances mean that Sexy Beast is always watchable. But Glazer's style and the actors' talents can't hide the fact that its plot is slim and distractingly vague in places, with the movie's supporting cast only ever hovering at the periphery of its shots and story. The final 30 minutes in particular loses momentum, despite boasting a heist scene that brims with disorientating energy. Very much like its antihero, this is a movie that occasionally gets caught between two worlds. But it does so with such swagger that it's hard to begrudge its wicked ways.

Movie Details

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