Sightlines · reception
How Layer Cake was received
2004 · Matthew Vaughn · Layer Cake on Sightlines
The arc
A modest, well-reviewed British hit in 2004, it's since been recast as one of the great sliding-doors films — the slick calling card that launched Matthew Vaughn as a director and effectively auditioned Daniel Craig for Bond.
What’s debated
The perennial fan debate: is it the smartest British gangster film of its era, a cut above the Guy Ritchie geezer cycle — or just Ritchie with better tailoring — plus an ending people are still arguing about.
Its footprint
Michael Gambon's 'layer cake' monologue is endlessly quoted, the protagonist billed only as 'XXXX' is a trivia-night staple, and the Duran Duran 'Ordinary World' needle drop is one of the most cited music cues in 2000s British cinema.
Where it stands
A 'you must have seen this' entry in the British crime canon — beloved on Letterboxd less as a classic than as the essential Daniel Craig pre-Bond text and the start of the Vaughn filmography.
Did you know? Daniel Craig's cool, suited turn in Layer Cake is widely credited with convincing the Bond producers he could carry 007 — he was cast as James Bond the year after its release.