Naked poster & wallpaper
Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, Katrin Cartlidge, Greg Cruttwell, Claire Skinner ... see more see more... , Peter Wight , Susan Vidler , Deborah MacLaren , Gina McKee , Mike Leigh , David Foxxe , Robert Putt , Sandra Voe , Peter Whitman , Elizabeth Berrington , Ewen Bremner , Toby Jones , Lesley Sharpe

A scathing look at Britain in the post-Thatcher era, Mike Leigh's Naked stars David Thewlis as Johnny, an unemployed layabout with a philosophical bent and a nasty edge. In the opening scene, he's com... read more read more...mitting rape, and before the credits even roll, he's also stolen a car to flee from Manchester to the London home of an old girlfriend (Lesley Sharp). The film's loose, sprawling narrative follows Johnny as he randomly makes his way through the streets of London, encountering a homeless Scottish couple, a nightwatchman and a series of women whom he charms and discards. He lives defiantly outside of the system, refusing to conform to the demands of anyone (including himself). ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Flixster Users

91% liked it

9,210 ratings

Critics

88% liked it

26 critics

R, 2 hr. 6 min.

Directed by: Mike Leigh

Release Date: October 15, 1993

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: September 27, 2005

Stats: 921 reviews

report incorrect info

Photos

David Thewlis david thewlis in naked david thewlis in naked Naked
Upload a Photo | View All Naked Photos

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (921)

  • matertenebraum
    February 10, 2011
    matertenebraum
    An unemployed - but intelligent - social misfit goes on the run to London following a back alley rape, but finds The Capital just as desperate and alienating as his native Manchester.

    This is one of the hardest films I have ever had to review. Topics such as urban alienation, ca... read morereer-choice unemployment, leeching, homelessness, drug taking and sexual violence would normally send me running for cover; but what we have here is so well constructed and so skilfully acted that it transcends it own headline topics.

    This is a classic case of car-wreck film making: You don't praise or celebrate much, yet it is deeply fascinating and even hypnotic. People are tap dancing on the edge of a metaphorical cliff - some are there of there of their own free will.

    Director Mike Leigh's semi-improvisational style doesn't always work, but here it really delivers something unique. You feel that you are watching real life even though too much happens in too short a time period for that to be the case.

    This is a wandering odyssey film and features a central performance - by David Thewlis - that ranks along the best ever witnessed in cinema. How the Oscar people could have (totally) turned their back on a performance as a good as this puzzles; although the film and actor won prizes in Cannes and New York.

    This is the first film I have ever seen that takes on sexual coercion in a head on fashion. People that have put themselves in a chemical or social situation where someone has something over them. The greasy upper crust landlord (Greg Cruttwell) might seem over-the-top to many but I know a few people actually like that!

    (For the record his actions would be deemed illegal in real life - if you have seen the film.)

    What happens to the on-screen people the day after this film ends? Has anything really changed? For Johnny - our central anti-hero - it will be just another day to duck and dive, avoid all work and wind people up using his extensive back reading.
  • 76Majikat
    November 28, 2010
    76Majikat
    'Naked' is certainly a performance driven film, with very little storyline and as such is an insight into the main character's (David Thewlis) ways, charms, crimes and philosophys as twisted and as controversial for it's time as it might be.
  • fb619846742
    February 18, 2010
    fb619846742
    A dark, disturbing, and almost overbearingly bleak look at a drifter in England who crashes at his ex-girlfriend's flat to escape those that will be after him after he commits a heinous act. Definitely not a film for everybody, but one that is full of energy thanks to David Thewl... read moreis's incredibly realistic performance as a man who has no where to go. It's a crime Thewlis wasn't nominated for Best Actor here, he's really amazing in this film. While the paralleling of Thewlis's character with another monstrous one isn't as neatly executed as one would expect, this is still a worthy film that gives you an intense perception of the underbelly of certain English societies. Some of the dialogue is exceptional as well, some of the conversations Thewlis strikes up with the people he meets randomly is actually pretty riveting.
  • rubystevens
    September 10, 2009
    rubystevens
    deeply disturbing. is everyone in this film mentally ill? it's horrible and hilarious and very, very angry. the female characters seem uniformly masochistic and troubled but of course they'd have to be to want to associate with johnny and jeremy who so obviously hate women. t... read morehewlis' mad philosophizing antihero is brilliant and there is a kind of harsh beauty in this unflinching brutality.
  • SirPant
    September 7, 2009
    SirPant
    My favourite Mike Leigh film by a mile. David Thewlis's performance in Naked is easily one of the greatest in the history of cinema, definitely in the top 10 of all time. The script is astonishing, its dark humour is both funny but uncomfortable and the characters are hateful but... read more likable at the same time. A really underrated, overlooked classic. Highly recommended and in my top 5 favourite films of all time.
  • kenstachnik
    September 2, 2008
    kenstachnik
    A fascinating, touching, funny, horrifying, witty, uncomfortable and brilliant film by Mike Leigh. A tour de force performance by David Thewlis.
  • gor41
    March 8, 2008
    gor41
    Grim study of modern day existential angst with a career defining performance from Thewlis.
  • tsigur
    October 15, 2007
    tsigur
    David Thewlis is flawless! I wish I could even think half the shit he says.
  • webalina
    June 14, 2007
    webalina
    What an intense movie! I had never seen David Thewlis before this, and I immediately wanted to see more of him. A brutal piece of cinema. Scenes still come back to me from time to time, and I only saw it once... in 1995.
  • garyX
    March 22, 2007
    garyX
    More humourous and less grim than a lot of Mike Leigh's work, but it still can be tough going. Thewliss is great, but I'm not sure how it would translate to foreign audiences.

View All Naked Reviews

Critic Reviews

William Goss
July 19, 2011
William Goss, Film.com

As immersive and well-acted as any character study Leigh's done, but ultimately numbing in its insistence on focusing on this would-be world-wary philosopher. Full Review

Sean Gandert
July 27, 2011
Sean Gandert, Paste Magazine

Almost every moment in it is electrifying and alive in a way no focus-tested movie could match. Full Review

Peter Canavese
July 26, 2011
Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews

Leigh's extensive use of improvisation in rehearsal led to a razor-sharp final script, endlessly blooming with memorable dialogue that—while never less than credibly naturalistic—proves th... Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
March 19, 2011
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

I wouldn't care to watch it again, but it had juice and left me feeling uneasy. Full Review

Tim Brayton
January 27, 2008
Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy

May well be Mike Leigh's greatest work, though it's a tough film to love or even respect. Full Review

Emanuel Levy
September 12, 2005
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

Truly a masterpiece, this essential 1990s film is a searing character study and satiric critique of the British society under Thatcher with a towering turn from David Thewlis Full Review

Rich Cline
June 12, 2004
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

Both harrowing and moving.

Jonathan R. Perry
November 23, 2003
Jonathan R. Perry, Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)

Raw, haunting and indelible. Where's David Thewlis' Oscar?

Edward Havens
August 28, 2003
Edward Havens, FilmJerk.com

A rough and exciting drama that deserved every accolade.

Ken Hanke
August 26, 2002
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Fascinating, but slightly off-putting

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Cast

More Like This

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Wonderland
    Wonderland (100%)
  • No Country for Old Men
    No Country for Old Men (44%)
  • Last Exit to Brooklyn
    Last Exit to Brooklyn (50%)
  • Boudu Saved From Drowning (Bondé sauvé des eaux)
    Boudu Saved From Drowning (Bondé sauvé des ea... (100%)

More Movies like Naked

Facts

Submit a Fact | View All
    • Johnny: Have you ever thought, right... I mean, you don't know...but you might already have had the happiest moment in your whole fucking life...and all you've got to look forward to is sickness and purgatory?
    • Johnny: You think you can recapture your youth by fucking it. You don't wanna fuck me. You'll catch something cruel.
    • Maggie: Have you ever seen a dead body?
    • Johnny: Only me own.
    • Johnny: Was I bored? No, I wasn't fuckin' bored. I'm never bored. That's the trouble with everybody - you're all so bored. You've had nature explained to you and you're bored with it, you've had the living body explained to you and you're bored with it, you've had the universe explained to you and you're bored with it, so now you want cheap thrills and, like, plenty of them, and it doesn't matter how tawdry or vacuous they are as long as it's new as long as it's new as long as it flashes and fuckin' bleeps in forty fuckin' different colors. So whatever else you can say about me, I'm not fuckin' bored.
    • Johnny: Well, basically, there was this little dot, right? And the dot went bang and the bang expanded. Energy formed into matter, matter cooled, matter lived, the amoeba to fish, to fish to fowl, to fowl to frog, to frog to mammal, the mammal to monkey, to monkey to man, amo amas amat, quid pro quo, memento mori, ad infinitum, sprinkle on a little bit of grated cheese and leave under the grill till Doomsday.
Submit a Fact | View All

Naked : Watch Free on TV

Naked Trivia

  • In the Naked Gun 33 1/3, who played the Oscar presenters that Leslie Nielson mugged to get into the Oscar presentation?  Answer »
  • In which movie does Adam Sandler end up hanging naked out a window with a gun in his butt?  Answer »
  • What film is based on the book Naked Lunch?  Answer »
  • In the 2004 movie 'The Whole Ten Yards' when Oz (Matthew Perry) wakes up in bed with Jimmy (Bruce Willis), Willis was naked under the blanket. Perry had no idea why he was naked... and reportedly was too afraid to ask.   Answer »
More Naked Trivia

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Naked. Want to create one?

Video Clips

Upload a Video |

All Naked Videos

Meet Other Fans

Add Naked to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?