Mr Nice

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Based on the eponymous book, ‘Mr Nice’ tell the wild tale of Howard Marks.
While the book was entertaining, albeit not very well written (sorry, but the sentences were just too choppy. Plus I am not sure I buy all of it. Marks is a self-confessed liar/yarn-spinner, so most of what he writes is probably exaggerated, but that’s cool), the movie did an impressive job of adapting the book. Although I believe that a mini-series or trilogy would have been better suited for all the material.

As always, and understandably so, I am sure that lovers of the book will say the film is crap because it condenses so much and bypasses so much more. Which is why I said a mini-series would have been better, because the parts that have been condensed/ignored are quite entertaining. For me, the book got really interesting when he gets arrested. Everything before, while entertaining, is also too repetitive. Plus it’s got way too many names and deals to keep track of.
The film ignores his year-long stay in Spain before being extradited to the US. It also doesn’t really show anything about his incarceration in Miami nor Terre Haute, except for the losing teeth and teaching parts.
And even Lovato doesn’t seem that much of an asshole in the film.
It also doesn’t show the struggle Judy goes through, it doesn’t show that she was also arrested and how they used the media to sway the public opinion.
And it completely ignores the whole Bangkok/Thailand/Moynihan part of the story, which was one of my favorite in the book. But, oh well. They can’t please everybody, I guess. It would have been nice to see him eat a tiger’s dick and a tuna’s jawbone, though. Plus what a film always need is Asian hookers.
Also, and I think rather importantly: how he gets the name of Mr Nice is also not accurate in the film, once again combining some things. It wouldn’t be that important, except it’s the friggin’ title!

The acting is, however, very good. As mentioned, the adapting is impressive, because it is quite a daunting task to adapt Marks’ memoirs. But, at the risk of repeating myself, 2 hours can’t do it justice. The directing is also good, and I would say that the use of green screens makes it look like genuine 70s cheesy kitsch. I don’t know if that’s what they were going for, but it worked for me.
Going back to the acting, when in the book Marks says that he went through all the possible emotions upon hearing of his parole, what I imagined is exactly what I saw. Mr Ifans is quite impressive and, dare I say it, is the perfect guy to play Marks. Plus he’s really Welsh, not some American accent acting with a bad accent (Yes, I’m looking at you Ms Sevigny).

Then, just when you’re respecting the screenplay, even though it left out your favorite bits, it goes into cartoon mode with the ‘arrest’ of James ‘The Kid’ McCann. What the fuck was that all about? The Kid is pretty cartoonish and is quite funny in the book. In the film, well, at least he’s played by Thewlis, but he’s not as funny and goody and stupid as he should have been. And the whole smoke grenade/machine gun thing is absurd. I don’t know, maybe it’s in the book and I blocked it out. Or it’s a way to show how The Kid sees himself, as some kind of hero and it shouldn’t be taken at face value. But I still thought it kinda sucked.
Then it doesn’t show the judge’s vocabulary mistake. I know it’s merely an anecdote, but it’s so surreal that it would’ve been awesome to see it.

All this being said, as in ‘Blow,’ I feel no pity whatsoever for the main character. At least Marks only dealt in hashish and marijuana (or so he says), which is less horrible than cocaine or guns. But at the end of the day, call me a square if you must, but he broke a million laws, so it’s not surprising he got busted. Plus he had a family and he was super rich already, so greed got the better of him, so I can’t pity him. He fucked up his kids and his wife and his life. He is in no way a hero. Yes, I am envious of his previous lifestyle, but he fucked it all up. For a few extra million pounds. Most people would do the same. That’s why I’m a misanthrope.
Anyway, he lost it all, but then he wrote a famous book which was made into a film. So he is profiting from his past crimes. Isn’t that what our modern society is all about?

So, bottom line is, as is so often the case: if you haven’t read the book, you might enjoy it, although it's really nothing new. Guy decides to smuggle dope, gets filthy rich, loses it all, goes to prison.
If you’ve read the book, you’ll get pissed off that your favorite bits were left off.

Let’s hope HBO will one day have a mini-series about ‘Mr. Nice.’ Even if some of it is bullshit (I mean, it’s like you’re reading Verbal Kint’s autobiography), it’s still pretty entertaining.