To me, this movie is perfection.

Memorable, crazy movie

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Aside from Naked, I've been left disappointed in Mike Leigh's films and all for the exact same reason – sub plots and sub characters that are more interesting than the main plot & characters but don't get developed and are left as loose ends.This has been a reoccurring theme in the 3 Mike Leigh films I have watched recently (All or Nothing, Meantime and Life Is Sweet). In each case, there are characters and sub plots that come along and start to look interesting but just as they seem to be going somewhere, they are forgotten about as the main characters & storyline take over for about the last 20 minutes and everything else is just left unresolved. I have finished each of these films thinking "why??!" What is even more perplexing is that the sub plots and sub characters are usually more interesting than the main plots & characters. But even if they weren't, it's not very good writing or film making to start a storyline and just leave it mid air. It doesn't make any sense and yet it seems to be a theme in his films.Aside from that, I struggled to enjoy All or Nothing. James Cordon's character was great and interesting, but the remaining 3 family members were dull, weak, mopey and annoyingly subordinate. I found the reconciliation between the wife and husband at the end to be weak and unconvincing.I wish there had been more time spent on the 2 trashy girls who live in the same block of flats. Both them and their families were a lot more interesting.

I've just read some of the other comments on this film and am now engaged in a bout with writers block because in no way will I begin to shed a better light on our subject film than the engaging analyses already posted on this site. This tale about a lower working class South London family in a nondescript housing project is one that simultaneously depresses and uplifts the spirit. You'll find no plastic yuppie rich boy/girl "wannabee" hot shots roaming about the screen, spewing ostentatious insipidities in this film. These are people on the low end of the economic ladder who make no pretensions or excuses for their situation in life.Mike Leigh and company totally hit the proverbial nail on the head in this one. Suffice it to say that Tim Spall and Lesley Manville each rendered riveting performances in their portrayals of the unmarried couple with two grown kids. The realistic "mise en scene" and the accompanying dialog/story line were grittily absorbing works of art, especially the long scene toward the film's conclusion. I may as well bestow kudos to the rest of the cast as well because their contributions, both individually and collectively, greatly augmented the story line as a whole. This modern gem, in its ambient unpretentiousness, so capably underscores the unmitigated power of love, acceptance, and triumph of the spirit no matter how grim the situation.

I had been warned about Mike Leigh's 'All or Nothing', by a friend, and so approached it with trepidation. However there is a lot here to be admired. Yes, it's a depressing tale at times, and this is lent a lot by two cracking performances from a wonderfully hang dog and passive Timothy Spall, and a cast-against-type turn from Lesley Manville as his shrewish wife. There is a scene when Spall repays his wife some money he has borrowed from her that just perfectly encapsulates the pain at the heart of their relationship. There is also some fantastic actressing around the edges here: Marion Bailey gives probably the most realistic portrayal of an alcoholic that I have ever seen on film, Alison Garland underplays perfectly in the aching role of the quiet sibling (that seems to have become a staple of Mike Leigh's dramas), and the wonderful Ruth Sheen gifts us a counterbalance in an optimistic role as the neighbour who refuses the be pummelled into submission by her daughter's foul mouth, responding with a smile and humour. Sally Hawkins also impresses as Bailey's gum chewing daughter, and makes for interesting viewing if you have already seen 'Happy-go-Lucky'. There are also some wonderful little comedy moments that punctuate this film if you can get your head round the bleakness. But Mike Leigh's forte has always been human relationships and he doesn't disappoint here. And around the hospital bed in the final scene Leigh gives us that slight taste of hope that has made the journey worthwhile. It's superior stuff.

Another one of director Mike Leigh's languorous,semi-improvised essays of working-class life,ALL OR NOTHING seems a somewhat deliberate attempt to be as relentlessly miserable and pessimistic as possible;set on a dismal,down-trodden South London council estate,with plain,overweight,ugly,dissipated,resigned-to-their-fate tenants and their families,with a maudlin violin-laden musical theme for good measure.It was surely the case that Leigh knew even before the cameras rolled that such a scenario would be the easiest way to keep the majority of cinema seats vacant,as other similarly themed UK-based social dramas.Aside from the profanities abound,it does have the feel of a TV production,where it looks and plays better on the small screen.The film's saving grace is that at least it has relatively sympathetic characters at it's centre.Timothy Spall has and never will be Cary Grant,but he is nonetheless a very fine actor,and still manages to add some depth to his taxi driver role with an eternally hangdog expression.But Lesley Manville,playing Spall's wife,gives the film's best performance,with a painfully honest love scene involving them both towards the end easily the film's highlight.Aside from the relentless gloom,the film's main problems are it's sheer mundaneness.There may be a quietly effective,observational realism about them,but relatively little happens and some sequences are far too over-stretched and become very tedious.Leigh's habit of caricatures comes to the fore with a voluble Frenchwoman and drunken housewife,and the film's pacing is deadening,moving like a tortoise on Valium.But along with Spall and Manville,the supporting performances are solid all round,with the familiar comic actor Sam Kelly coming off best as a downcast,late middle-aged cleaner who makes half-hearted,hopeless attempts in trying to date the teen-aged daughter of Spall and Manville (Alison Garland),who suffers from shyness and obesity.Her foul-mouthed,lazy,even more obese brother (James Corden)suffers a heart attack while playing football,which in fact brings the family closer together and helps the film end on a mildly optimistic note.But this is untypical in light of what went previously;ALL OR NOTHING is not unwatchable,and Mike Leigh is a talented filmmaker,but less footage,better pacing and more humour would've made a better film.But Leigh and the actors would probably not have liked that,it would've made them more happier!RATING:6 out of 10.