Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

johnnymurphy15 Yet another collaboration with the Director Michael Winterbottom and Steve Coogan, and their second biopic together, the last one being 24 Hour Party People. It seems like Michael Winterbottom thinks that Steve Coogan has a knack for portraying charismatic men with too much money and who are innovators of their time. He is right, Steve Coogan puts in one of his best performances.Steve Coogan plays Paul Raymond, the king of Soho. He earns this title because he was responsible for owning many of the strip joints in that area of London. We are taken through a wild ride from the beginnings of his travelling nudie shows, to the sophisticated private mens clubs of Soho, to porn publication to being a property magnate. The story mainly focuses on the three main women in his life. First his wife Jean (Anna Friel), his girlfriend Amber (Tamsin Egerton) , who later changes her name to Fiona Richmond when she becomes a famous model, and his daughter Debbie (wonderfully played by Imogen Poots). Paul Raymond likes to have open relationships with multiple women in which Jean has a liberal attitude towards, but when this starts to take its toll on the relationship and family life, he is drawn to the young and seductive Amber. He introduces her to his world and gets her parts in various nude stage plays and ends up having a long term relationship with her. His daughter Debbie comes back into his life and is also introduced into the excesses of Paul's life. She gets into all the drugs and the partying which meet a tragic end. This is mentioned at the start of the film while we see a dejected Paul Raymond being hounded by reporters. He proceeds into a dark room and watches a film of the 'glory days', and this is what the film becomes. A series of memories through the eyes of a man who has seen better days.It is another one of those what-comes-up-must-come-down films where a man starts off with nothing, then becomes the richest man in Britain through his publication of magazines like 'Men Only' and 'Razzle' and through property. However, it is still fun to watch because despite Paul's selfish ways, he is a likable and charismatic man who conducts his business well and really believes in what he is doing. He maintains throughout that what he is doing is not pornography or exploitation and uses negative press condemning the nudity in his plays humorously to his advantage. It also shows mostly the vulnerable side to Paul, mainly through his relationship to his daughter Debbie. He basically picks her as his favourite and has little to no part in his sons life. The scene between the two characters are a mixture of happy moments and disturbingly damaging moments. He spoils her rotten, lets her snort an enormous amount of cocaine and lets her party far too much. One disturbing scene is when Debbie is in labour and Paul gives her a line of cocaine to ease the pain. The continual drug taking only gets worse, and on top of that, she is diagnosed with breast cancer! She eventually dies of a heroin overdose and this has a massive effect on Paul as she was the one who was to inherit his empire. He then picks his oldest grand daughter as his favourite towards the end of the film, posing the question, has he learn-ed anything and will he ever change? The answer being no if the dejected man watching his past is anything to go by.We see much of todays British comedic talent turn up in this film. David Walliams has a minor part as a lecherous vicar, Matt Lucas has a cameo, Chris Addison has a major role and puts in a good performance and Simon Bird (Will from the Inbetweeners) has a small part. He turns up wearing a ridiculous wig and sporting an equally ridiculous moustache and marries Debbie briefly, then does not turn up in the film again. That is one of the big flaws of the film. It covers 4 decades of a mans eventful life, but some events still seemed rushed. It is merely mentioned that Debbie had a close relationship with Fiona Richmond, but this is never shown. Also, a different husband (or maybe boyfriend) of Debbies turns up later in the film, but we didn't even know her marriage ended. I have a feeling there was a more fleshed out script, but it was edited due to time constraints.It was an entertaining look at an industry which is shown impartially. Whether you think Paul Raymond is a purvey sexist or a liberator is down to your point of view, the film only hints at what Paul Raymond thinks. I thought he was a damaging person who made bad choices which led him to being lonely and unhappy to his death. Yet another case of money does not necessarily buy you happiness.Check out my film review blog - www.projectionistreview.wordpress.com

bowmanblue 'The Look of Love' tells the story of the first 'porn baron' of London, Paul Raymond - arguable the richest man in England to ever make his money in such an industry.The first thing you need to know is that the casting of Steve Coogan is a sheer masterpiece. He's every bit believable as the sleazy, low-life kid from Liverpool who made his fortune in London. It's his film and he carries it well. There are a few famous faces popping up here and there and they all play their parts well, too. However, I thought the best co-star was (The Thick of It-famed) Chris Addison, playing yet another slimebag to perfection.If you're even vaguely offended by (female) nudity, or drug usage, then you probably shouldn't watch this. Both vices are frequently portrayed from the opening act to the end.Ultimately, the film charts the highs and the lows of Paul Raymond's career, although, if you investigate the man himself, you may feel that Coogan's portrayal of him and his industry is quite kindly. Sex, drugs and pornography are shown as the norm, rarely damaging anyone's life (other than the protagonist's). But that could be down to the film's running time being quite a condensed ninety minutes. Therefore, we're probably left to put two and two together to realise that such vices can sometimes carry far darker consequences.If you're expecting 'Alan Partridge' Coogan then you may be disappointed. The Look of Love is not that funny, but then it's not really meant to be. It's a (generous) life story of a very interesting may who was certainly not a saint. If you're a fan of Coogan, or just curious to know what goes on behind those alluring neon lights in Soho then give this one a go.http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/

M MALIK i saw this film recently and it got me thinking about it for sometime after it was over that there are many ways to make money and one of them is this the sexy way many people have done that in the world including playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner but not like this guy Paul Raymond did in UK through 60s & 80s he later became one of the richest men in the country this film highlights everything you need to know about the business he was in & his life.the plot:Paul Raymond is a entrepreneur who looks back at his life of how he created a new empire in UK by creating strip joints,soft-core magazines & many more to be the ultimate king of entertainment in UK also known as king of Soho & sophistication, & his relationship with his daughter Debbie & family membersthe cast:Anna Freil,Imogen Poots are two ladies to lookout for but one man has clearly stole the show he is Steve Coogan as his portrayal of Paul Raymond was spot on also funny at some places specially when he mimic Sean Connery James bond shaken not stirred in one scene he gave one hell of an amazing performance.there is a lot of nudity in this film and sex like usual soft-core films but its passable because your in for the story not for sensual scenes most of all it was about how Paul run that business & family and kept them all together despite they were falling apart Paul tries hard but what fate has in-store for him is definitely a worth looking story, Paul Raymond became also gets accused of running prostitution inside his club and Soho the sex entertainment district,this film is not about rise and fall Paul was on rise till his death in 2008.overall its a story of the king of sex as far as i see if your looking for a good story and great performances plus if you are a Steve Coogan fan then this is a must see for you i am also surprised that not many critics from Singapore and India have picked this up i am happy for that as critical reception kills it this film is purely for audience members i enjoyed it for what it was.My Rating For The Look Of Love 2013 Is 7/10 Highly Recommended Go See It.

Likes_Ninjas90 Michael Winterbottom's The Look of Love is a comedy-drama that never needed to be funny. The film is above all else a tragedy about how a man's wealth and his real estate empire clouded his judgment in all of his relationships. He earned his wealth through establishing his Revue Bars in Soho, the West End of London during the late 1950s. These bars featured nude female models, who were allowed to move on stage, which was deemed illegal at the time.Raymond then established his Men's Only magazine, which was a pornographic publication. His rise in wealth and property through the 60s and 70s led for him to be titled by the mid-90s as "The King of Soho". Paul Raymond was declared in 1992 to be one of the richest men in Britain. He died in 2008 with a fortune that was said to be worth over six-hundred million dollars. This is the fourth film Winterbottom has made with Steve Coogan, after Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, The Trip and 24 Hour Party People. Coogan specialises in playing shallow, self-absorbed, stuffy characters. His performance as Raymond is familiar but extremely engaging and darkly funny. Accompanied by some hilariously silly innuendo-laden dialogue, he uses his voice to express the pompousness and artificialness of Raymond's self-made identity. He values his wealth and celebrity image over sustained relationships. One of the stories he repeats is that his apartment was designed by Ringo Starr. A tracking shot as he walks through the room shows the sustained but untouched and unfulfilled construct of his lifestyle. In the context of censorship laws, the incredibly frank and confronting stage shows have a historical resonance, which is further complimented by their utter ridiculousness. Some of Raymond's stage ideas, like combing Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun on stage with nude female models, are strange and hilarious. Yet Paul Raymond is also in many ways a terrible man. His wife Jean (Anna Friel) willingly lets him cheat on her and he relates to his daughter Debbie (Imogen Poots), not through ordinary parental wisdom, but the advice of a business partner. When she eats all of the cakes he buys for her, he tells her that they're not all for her but for the other girls so that she'll have friends. Similarly, when she cries about being cut from one his shows as a singer he doesn't reassure her about future but argues that he can't let the show keep bleeding money. What the screenplay from first time writer Matt Greenhalgh lacks is a deeper understanding of both the reactions and the immobility of the characters. The film is about Raymond's relationships with three different women and despite all of the ones that he sleeps with, works with and exploits, he understands none of them. Rather unintentionally, the film is like this too.The female characters contradict themselves in confusing ways. His first wife knows about his affairs but is still surprised and upset when he finally leaves her. His mistress Fiona (Tamsin Egerton) is no fool either. She writes for his magazine and models in his shows. She engages with him and other women in acts of threesomes but leaves him when he can't offer a normal life. The film is extremely alert to Raymond letting his own daughter fatally self-destruct through her cocaine addiction (he advises her to buy the good stuff) but at the end the film still makes an attempt to reach for our undeserving sympathy. The image of the supposedly talentless daughter singing beautifully over the end credits is also a confusing one. If the film was not told through such a rigid, episodic structure, treating the lives of characters like small vignettes (cancer, marriage and addiction), there would have been stronger ongoing threads of conflict and more time invested into understanding these characters. Some of them are truly sadder than funny.