I can't get enough of gangsters . I saw GOODFELLAS for the 20th billionth time last week and I bought THE DEPARTED on DVD yesterday so earlier tonight I sat down to watch Nick Love's much hyped - At least much hyped by Film Four - gangster movie THE BUSINESS

Did I say I couldn't get enough of gangsters ? Perhaps what I meant to say was I can't get enough of Scorsese because I got the impression that Nick Love was trying to emulate Scorsese's style and that is fatal for any director . Like GOODFELLAS and several other Scorsese classics the musical soundtrack is very important but for some reason Love seems to have thrown as many pop songs as possible into the mix . It's mentioned that towards the end of the story that it's 1987 with much of the narrative taking place before this , but the 80s tracks seem to be placed without any thought being put into their appropriate place within the chronology

The story itself is similar to a Scorsese film in that it's male orientated and misogynistic . Only difference is that the female characters are central to the plot in the Scorsese universe while in THE BUSINESS they seem to exist to just so to set an amusing scene towards the end where Frankie has to earn some money and one can't help thinking perhaps Love should have concentrated on a style of his own and put more thought into his own screenplay or perhaps even have directed a story written by somebody else therefore this audience member wouldn't have structuralist theories while watching a Nick Love movie

As for the cast I do remember writing in my review of BORSTAL BOY that Danny Dyer is an actor who could become a big name and I still stick by that but it's obvious he's rather unconvincing as a big hard gangster . I also couldn't help noticing that Camille Coduri and Linda Henry seem to be playing the same characters ( Though far more foul mouthed ) that they play in DOCTOR WHO and EASTENDERS respectively but as I said their characters are woefully underdeveloped so perhaps I shouldn't blame the actresses

THE BUSINESS is loud , violent and foul mouthed but most of all disappointing . Like OUTLAW the screenplay needed more work on it and perhaps the next film Love makes has a stronger producer who wants to find out like this audience member if he has an idiosyncratic style of his own

Frankie, a young lad on the run from the ghetto of South London, plans his escape and the beginnings of a new life in sunny Costa Del Sol.

With nothing but cash stashed in his luggage he heads off, and has no idea that this sum of money will catapult him into the seductive world of ex-gangster Charlie.

Before he knows it Frankie's got more then he bargained for - he's one of Charlie's gang and the world of organised crime......

You know from looking at the one sheet if you will like this movie or not. Danny Dyer and the quote, from the director of the football factory. Some people would have balked at the idea of seeing this movie.

But then some people deny themselves a guilty pleasure, because they want to look/sound more intelligent than they. Well you go and sit in Costa coffee with your copy if the telegraph and be bored, I'll get entertained for ninety minutes.

And the film is a pleasure to watch. Its total fluff from beginning to end, but the music is brilliant, the sets and costumes spot on, and Dyer puts in a decent performance.

It's the old age story of a boy wanting to be somebody,gets a chance, lives the high-life a bit, and then loses its all. Plain and simple.

If you know the films of Nick Love, and Dyer and Hassan's movie, you'll know the film inside out before even opening the seal on the Blu Ray.

It looks great, and even though it is a load of old cobblers owing a lot to Goodfellas, Scarface, and many other crime movies, owe yourself a bit of pleasure.

Welcome to the pleasuredome......

THE BUSINESS is an appalling modern-day gangster film by Nick Love, the god-awful director behind the equally terrible OUTLAW. Starring Danny Dyer (who he?) and Tamer Hassan (who he?),this tells the tale of a couple of British gangsters and their rise to fame - and eventual downfall - in sunny Spain. It's like SCARFACE, but dumbed down for the chav masses.

The movie is completely awful, and much of that is down to the nonsensical script. Characterisation is zilch, the dialogue is written by a guy with a tin ear (Love himself, unsurprisingly) and everything that happens is clichéd and predictable. There are occasional moments of suspense and promising scenes that lead nowhere, but the biggest disappointment is the climax, where everything peters into nothing instead of going out with a bang. It's one of those films where you hate all the characters and are hoping for a massacre along the way.

The acting is bad too, but it doesn't really matter when the cast have absolutely nothing to work with in the profanity-laden script. Dyer can be passable given the right material (such as SEVERANCE) but he's out of his depth here and completely wooden, and the less said about Hassan the better, except that he's no actor. In any case, I've wasted enough time on this trash already - avoid it like the plague!