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Poster for Mr. Nice

Mr. Nice

43 Aliases. 89 Phone Lines. This is the Story of Howard Marks.

2010 · 2h 1m · N/A Comedy, Crime, Drama
Directed by Bernard Rose

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Overview

Biopic about 1970s Welsh marijuana trafficker Howard Marks, whose inventive smuggling schemes made him a huge success in the drug trade, as well as leading to dealings with both the IRA and British Intelligence. Based on Marks' biography with the same title.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
55%
Tomatometer
Fresh

Though the film takes a while to cast its spell, writer-director-cinematographer Bernard Rose's close observation of Marks and those around him becomes increasingly involving and allows Rose to comment on the widespread failure of the war on drugs.

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Fresh

The writer-director tells the story with verve and small-budget ingenuity.

Mark Jenkins, Washington Post
Rotten

Ifans looks 20 years too old for the part, and the problem with the movie is it seems so desperate to be made that it barely cares that he spends half of his time miscast.

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
Rotten

[Ifans] captures the character's charisma and cool, and it's fun to ride shotgun with him. But the script isn't pointed enough to drill beneath the surface.

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Fresh

Effortlessly captures the looks, attitudes and the various mentalities of the period from the late 1960s and early 1970s, through the transition from the hippie era into the Studio 54 days, followed by the Just-Say-No retrenchment of the 1980s.

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

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