''London'' is a 2005 American
romantic drama film
Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...
written and directed by Hunter Richards. It stars
Chris Evans,
Jason Statham
Jason Statham (; born 26 July 1967) is an English actor. He is known for portraying characters in various action-thriller films who are typically tough, hardboiled, gritty, or violent.
Statham began practising Chinese martial arts, kickboxing ...
,
Jessica Biel
Jessica Claire Timberlake (née Biel ; born March 3, 1982) is an American actress and model. She has received various accolades, including a Young Artist Award, and nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards.
Biel be ...
,
Joy Bryant
Joy Bryant is an American actress, businesswoman and fashion model. She has appeared in numerous films and television since beginning her acting career in 2001. She has received two NAACP Image Award nominations, and one Screen Actors Guild Award ...
,
Kelli Garner
Kelli Brianne Garner (born April 11, 1984) is an American actress who has appeared in a variety of independent and mainstream films, television, and theater.
A native of Southern California, Garner made her feature film debut at age seventeen ...
, and
Isla Fisher
Isla Lang Fisher (; born 3 February 1976) is an Australian actress and author. Born to Scottish parents in Oman, she moved to Australia at age six where she began appearing in television commercials. Fisher came to prominence for her portrayal ...
.
Plot
Syd (
Chris Evans) receives a phone call from a friend informing him that his ex-girlfriend London (
Jessica Biel
Jessica Claire Timberlake (née Biel ; born March 3, 1982) is an American actress and model. She has received various accolades, including a Young Artist Award, and nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards.
Biel be ...
) is having a going-away party before she moves to
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
with her new boyfriend in a few days. Syd, who has been deeply depressed since London dumped him, flies into a rage upon hearing the news, and wrecks his apartment. He decides to go to the party uninvited, bringing along Bateman (
Jason Statham
Jason Statham (; born 26 July 1967) is an English actor. He is known for portraying characters in various action-thriller films who are typically tough, hardboiled, gritty, or violent.
Statham began practising Chinese martial arts, kickboxing ...
), a banker who delivers
cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...
to Syd as a favor to their mutual dealer.
After arriving at the party at the condominium belonging to the parents of club girl Rebecca (
Isla Fisher
Isla Lang Fisher (; born 3 February 1976) is an Australian actress and author. Born to Scottish parents in Oman, she moved to Australia at age six where she began appearing in television commercials. Fisher came to prominence for her portrayal ...
), Bateman and Syd install themselves in the bathroom, where they snort line after line of
cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...
, guzzle
tequila
Tequila (; ) is a liquor, distilled beverage made from the Agave tequilana, blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, Jalisco, Tequila northwest of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Guadalajara, and in the Jaliscan Highlands ...
and discuss love, sex, God, women and pain. Over the course of the night and a massive pile of blow, Bateman tells Syd to get on with his life.
The private party-within-a-party is soon joined by Maya (
Kelli Garner
Kelli Brianne Garner (born April 11, 1984) is an American actress who has appeared in a variety of independent and mainstream films, television, and theater.
A native of Southern California, Garner made her feature film debut at age seventeen ...
) and Mallory (
Joy Bryant
Joy Bryant is an American actress, businesswoman and fashion model. She has appeared in numerous films and television since beginning her acting career in 2001. She has received two NAACP Image Award nominations, and one Screen Actors Guild Award ...
), who feign sympathy for Syd to grab some free cocaine. When Syd learns that London has arrived, Bateman challenges him to go out and talk to her.
After a heated confrontation in the middle of the party, Syd and London decide to leave to talk somewhere more private. As they are leaving, a fight ensues in which Syd and Bateman fight the other male guests, barely making it out of the party. London and Syd make up in Syd's car, and later they have sex in London's apartment. In the last scene, at the airport, Syd tells London he loves her. Although this impresses London, she still leaves him.
Cast
*
Jessica Biel
Jessica Claire Timberlake (née Biel ; born March 3, 1982) is an American actress and model. She has received various accolades, including a Young Artist Award, and nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards.
Biel be ...
as London
*
Chris Evans as Syd
*
Jason Statham
Jason Statham (; born 26 July 1967) is an English actor. He is known for portraying characters in various action-thriller films who are typically tough, hardboiled, gritty, or violent.
Statham began practising Chinese martial arts, kickboxing ...
as Bateman
*
Joy Bryant
Joy Bryant is an American actress, businesswoman and fashion model. She has appeared in numerous films and television since beginning her acting career in 2001. She has received two NAACP Image Award nominations, and one Screen Actors Guild Award ...
as Mallory
*
Kelli Garner
Kelli Brianne Garner (born April 11, 1984) is an American actress who has appeared in a variety of independent and mainstream films, television, and theater.
A native of Southern California, Garner made her feature film debut at age seventeen ...
as Maya
*
Isla Fisher
Isla Lang Fisher (; born 3 February 1976) is an Australian actress and author. Born to Scottish parents in Oman, she moved to Australia at age six where she began appearing in television commercials. Fisher came to prominence for her portrayal ...
as Rebecca
*
Dane Cook
Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He has released six comedy albums: ''Harmful If Swallowed''; ''Retaliation''; '' Vicious Circle''; '' Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garde ...
as George
*
Louis C.K.
Louis Alfred Székely (; born September 12, 1967), known professionally as Louis C.K. (), is an American stand-up comedian, screenwriter, actor, and filmmaker. C.K. won three Peabody Awards, three Grammy Awards, six Primetime Emmy Awards, and a ...
as Therapist
*
Casey LaBow
Casey LaBow (b. Samantha Casey Labow, Aug. 14, 1986, New York City) is an American film producer and actress known for her role as Kate Denali in '' The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1'' and '' The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part ...
as Dominatrix
*
Kat Dennings
Katherine Victoria Litwack (born June 13, 1986), known professionally as Kat Dennings, is an American actress. She is known for her starring roles as Max Black in the CBS sitcom '' 2 Broke Girls'' (2011–2017) and as Darcy Lewis in the Marvel ...
as Lilly
*
Antonio Muñoz as Killer in a Dream
Music
American
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
group
The Crystal Method
The Crystal Method is an American electronic music act formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early 1990s. They were pioneers of the big beat genre and their music has appeared in numerous TV shows, films, video gam ...
performed the score for the film.
The song "Roboslut" appears in the North American PlayStation 2 release of ''
Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova
, released in Europe as ''Dancing Stage SuperNova'', is an arcade and PlayStation 2 game in the ''Dance Dance Revolution'' (''DDR'') series of music video games. It was produced by Konami and released through Betson Enterprises. The game was rele ...
'', but is retitled "Robogirl" due to censorship.
; Track listing
All songs written and performed by
The Crystal Method
The Crystal Method is an American electronic music act formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early 1990s. They were pioneers of the big beat genre and their music has appeared in numerous TV shows, films, video gam ...
except where noted.
# "London"
# "Restless" by
Evil Nine
Evil Nine are an English electronic music duo comprising members Tom Beaufoy and Patrick Pardy. Their musical style is primarily classified as breakbeat, although it additionally encompasses other influences.
Biography
The duo first came t ...
featuring Toastie Taylor
# "Smoked" (Vocals by Troy Bonnes)
# "Fire to Me" (vs. Hyper)
# "Roboslut"
# "Defective"
# "Vice"
# "Crime" by Troy Bonnes
# "C'mon Children" by
The Out Crowd
The Out Crowd was a U.S. indie rock band featuring bass guitarist Matt Hollywood, a former member of The Brian Jonestown Massacre. He formed the group in late 2001 in Portland, Oregon with drummer Stuart Valentine, guitarist Elliott Barnes, bassi ...
# "Onesixteen"
# "Sucker Punch" by
Connie Price and the Keystones
Connie Price and the Keystones is a project helmed by guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Dan Ubick from Los Angeles, California, combining influences of funk, hip-hop, psych and soul. Besides Ubick, it had a revolving membership while they performe ...
# "Glass Breaker" (Vocals by
Charlotte Martin
Charlotte Ann Martin (born October 31, 1976) is an American singer-songwriter and voice coach, who performs predominantly on the piano. She has written several studio albums, two of which have received mainstream commercial releases, 2004's ' ...
)
# "I Luv U"
# "Nothing Like You and I" by
The Perishers
''The Perishers'' was a long-running British comic strip about a group of neighbourhood children and a dog. It was printed in the ''Daily Mirror'' as a daily strip and first appeared on 19 October 1959. For most of its life it was written by M ...
Critical reception
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has a 14% approval rating, based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 3.7 out of 10. The website's consensus reads, "Hampered by pretension and undermined by unlikable characters, ''London'' proves that the novelty of seeing actors play against type isn't enough to rescue a deeply flawed film." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, it has a
weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
score of 24 out of 100, based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' gave the film one out of four stars, writing, "Chris Evans and Jason Statham have verbal facility and energy, which enables them to propel this dreck from one end of 92 minutes to the other, and the women in the movie are all perfectly adequate at playing bimbo cokeheads. I have seen all of these actors on better days in better movies, and I may have a novena said for them."
Laura Kern of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called it "a misfired attempt at provocation and the exploration of philosophical thought, London is little more than an immature display of male bonding on speed."
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:London (2005 film)
2005 films
2005 independent films
2005 romantic drama films
American independent films
American romantic drama films
Destination Films films
Films about cocaine
Films set in New York City
Films shot in New York City
2005 directorial debut films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films