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Once Upon a Time in the Midlands

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United Kingdom, Germany · 2002
Rated R · 1h 44m
Director Shane Meadows
Starring Robert Carlyle, Rhys Ifans, Shirley Henderson, Kathy Burke
Genre Action, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Dek, a decent but somewhat dull man, enjoys a happy existence with his beloved girlfriend Shirley. They live together with Marlene, her 12-year-old daughter by the delinquent Jimmy, who flew the coop years ago and hasn't been heard from since. Dek loves Shirley so much that he proposes to her on national television.

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What are critics saying?

50

Los Angeles Times by

It's a compelling and ambitious idea, but one that misfires because of its underwhelming characters and slack storytelling.

70

The New York Times by A.O. Scott

What really separates "Midlands" from Leone's desiccated, terse genre work is Mr. Meadows's doting attention to his characters' decency. It gives a demonstrative bittersweetness to a likable but small story.

38

New York Daily News by Jami Bernard

After 45 minutes of incomparable boredom, the movie gets slightly better when it stops reaching for cheap yuks and lets the actors do what they do well.

60

Village Voice by Jessica Winter

There are pages missing from this fable: Meadows reports that his financiers asked him to cut one-quarter of his original script just before production began, and his fondness for long takes sits uneasily beside the apparent gaps in the narrative.

40

TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh

The complications are predictable, as is the resolution; what keeps the film from sinking into its own inconsequentiality is the throaty-voiced Henderson, who can make the most preposterous behavior ring absolutely true.

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