Though told here with appealing drollness, Marks's story makes an odd vessel for the filmmakers' casually advanced legalization arguments, what with its mischief making on the grandest scale possible.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Writer-director Bernard Rose effectively conjoures an atompshere of poetic stoned-1960s British rebellion, a feeling of woozy, intoxicating possibility that will not-so-eventually be squashed.
A solid, often entertaining life-of-crimer which benefits from some stylistic touches and a faithful, convincing central performance.
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
So what we're left with is a sort of contact high, drifting gently over to our seats in the back row.
This boppy biopic pushes a wealth of outrageous incidents while never making anything resembling a point.
Mildly amusing but overly discursive.
The result is a film that's long and choppy, with little narrative momentum. And yet at times, Mr. Nice is frustratingly close to brilliant.
Movieline by Stephanie Zacharek
You don't have to believe all of it - or even any of it - to enjoy the rascally charms of Mr. Nice.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
An affable throwback to those guilt-free days when hippie drug dealers radiated the glamorous aura of avant-garde heroes risking prison to spread the doctrine of liberation through cannabis.
You don't have to be stoned to watch Mr. Nice, but it might help to be in the same state of mind as its real-life anti-hero, drug kingpin Howard Marks.