‎All or Nothing (2002) directed by Mike Leigh • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

All or Nothing

2002 Directed by Mike Leigh

Penny's love for her partner, taxi-driver Phil, has run dry. He is a gentle, philosophical guy, and she works on the checkout at a supermarket...

James Corden Timothy Spall Ruth Sheen Lesley Manville Sally Hawkins Alison Garland Kathryn Hunter Paul Jesson Daniel Mays Helen Coker Sam Kelly Marion Bailey Timothy Bateson Edna Doré Gary McDonald Ben Crompton Diveen Henry Georgia Fitch Robert Wilfort Tracy O'Flaherty Alex Kelly Maxine Peake Alan Williams Daniel Ryan Di Botcher Dorothy Atkinson Mark Benton Michele Austin Leo Bill

128 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Sally Jane Black

Perhaps the greatest strength Mike Leigh's films have are their casts. He finds people who are beautiful without the traditional magazine sheen, and he casts them with all of their flaws and quirks and sad eyes in things that draw from reality rather than fantasy. This is a film filled with sorrows and a weariness that is at times difficult to watch. Melodramas are supposed to be larger than life, full of huge emotions that emphasize the intensity of human interaction, derived from events as big as the emotional content. Leigh's film should be a melodrama--it has a few events that seem like they should be the focal point of some Sirkian or Fassbinderian* sprawl--but it comes across instead not…
Review by Mark Cunliffe ★★★★½

Let's commence this review by saying that Mike Leigh believes Jonathan Ross to be a bit of a twat, and that I'm inclined to agree with him.

On release of All or Nothing, Ross used both his Daily Mirror film review column and his BBC1 show Film (2002) to implore audiences to stay away from this film. He claimed it was a complete downer full of people that no one would want to see on the cinema screen.

It's a stance that completely missed the point and, apropos of nothing, I wonder if Ross is a fan of EastEnders (he's certainly had several of that programme's actors appear on his TV and radio chat shows down the years showering them…
Review by Robert Beksinski ★★★★

Leigh wanders into lesser charted territory with a dark film that is near as depressing as they come. His signature humor is vacant and replaced with a somber chord. But the one aspect that remains and probably always will with Mike Leigh is the human element. Nobody can depict humanity in its grim, quirky, loving, beautiful and unpredictable ways as he.

All or Nothing is a very heavy film to carry for the viewer. The kind I may warn people about beforehand of how it can make one feel so run down after watching. The characters and their situations as expressed are so genuine and lifelike that its impossible not to feel their emotional wrought and anguish. While many may…
Review by Cian 2

Okay, I know auteur theory is some bullshit, but I still need to find the film where Mike Leigh fucks up and doesn't make me weep.

I mean, this has James "Carpool Karaoke" Corden in it. That alone means it has no right to be good. Yet it has me shook. A small story of gigantic emotions.
Review by Reece ★★★★½

“You’re all alone, ain’t ya?”
Mike Leigh’s version of Amores Perros.

A tightly compact family drama about the build up of anxiety that we can all face. All these small issues gradually building up into a real tragedy, often one that we don’t see coming up. It is tense, upsetting and yet also beautiful.

A film that is ultimately about redemption, overcoming those issues, continuing to fight.

I wholeheartedly relate to Timothy Spall’s character here.
Review by Martin28 ★★★★½

I think Mike Leigh really works best when he's doing these gritty multiple character, family-centred, Ken Loach-esque class struggle slice of life movies. This was seriously engaging. As always Timothy Spall is in fine form and, holy fuck, Sally Hawkins steals the show! She's spectacular here! Absolutely delighted she's gone on to have the career she has. Superb all around!

Recent reviews

Review by Laura Palmer ★★★★

el interminable y silencioso sufrimiento de la clase obrera. lesley manville es extraordinaria
Review by Cian 2

Okay, I know auteur theory is some bullshit, but I still need to find the film where Mike Leigh fucks up and doesn't make me weep.

I mean, this has James "Carpool Karaoke" Corden in it. That alone means it has no right to be good. Yet it has me shook. A small story of gigantic emotions.
Review by Eliud Méndez ★★★★ 1

I want to thank Mike Leigh for making James Corden suffer a lot
Review by Harry Bagenstos ★★★★★

One of those movies that I love more than I can articulate, so all I'll put here is that this just further confirms that people who say Leigh's work is only about the script and the performances don't know what they're talking about. The shot of Rory writhing on the ground in the middle of the giant, ugly, alienating apartment complex brought me to tears.
Review by Rogelio ★★★★★

The sort of film I’ll remember my whole life.
Review by Gerardo Coello ★★★★★

Even the bleakest of the Mike Leigh films I've seen, allows itself moments of humor and light in the lives of these beautifully flawed characters. The humanism with which Leigh portrays his characters is truly unique in cinema and proof of the great master he is.
Review by erikawynn ★★★

Lesley Manville was great and it was fun to see baby Sally Hawkins but there’s all this moralizing about how Lesley Manville nags her husband and son too much - well she should, they’re terrible! broccoli joke was good though
Review by TJ D ★★★★

This played more humanely, tragically, hopefully, and complexly than the first time I saw it. Timothy Spall and Lesley Manville are so amazing in this film about a working class family down on the dumps, whose marriage is falling apart and kids are just as sad and hopeless as they are. In typical Mike Leigh fashion, there is a huge cast of amazing actors outside of Spall and Manville--Ruth Sheen, James Corden (THAT James Corden!), Sally Hawkins, Jon Snow's friend from Game of Thrones, etc.

See it.
Review by ricecak ★★★★½

I am sad and hopeful. I love Mike Leigh. I love Sally Hawkins.