Marching Powder
DirectorNick Love
ProducerChris Clark
Will Clarke
ScreenplayNick Love
StarringDanny Dyer
MusicAlfie Godfrey
CinematographySimon Stolland
EditingPani Scott
StudioTrue Brit Entertainment[1]
Altitude Film Entertainment[1][2]
Rogue State
DistributorTrue Brit Entertainment (United Kingdom)[3]
Released7 March 2025
Runtime96 minutes[1][4]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Marching Powder is a 2025 British comedy-drama film written and directed by Nick Love.[5][1] It stars Danny Dyer as Jack Jones, a man given a short period to change his behaviour following an arrest for drugs and violence.[1][4]

Plot

After being arrested for fighting and cocaine possession during a football hooligan brawl, Jack is ordered by the court to go to couples' therapy for six weeks. Unable to keep a job, he lives off of his father-in-law Ron's money under the condition that he watch over Ron's schizophrenic son Kenny Boy. Jack attempts to stay off of drugs and away from hooligan fighting for the sake of his relationship and his young son, while his wife Dani goes back to art school to recover what she sacrificed to be a stay-at-home mother.

Cast

Production

The film was produced by Chris Clark and Will Clarke, with Zygi Kamasa and Andy Mayson credited as executive producers.[1] It was produced by True Brit Entertainment and Altitude Film Entertainment.[1][2] The BBFC lists the production year as 2024.[3]

Release

The film was released theatrically in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 7 March 2025.[4] It has a running time of 96 minutes.[4] In Ireland it was classified 18 by the IFCO.[4] In the United Kingdom it was classified 18 by the BBFC; the BBFC record also notes a compulsory digital substitution to remove a potentially indecent image involving a child, made in accordance with the Protection of Children Act 1978.[3]

Reception

The Firm holds a 33% approval rating at review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes based on the opinions of 12 critics.[6]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film a rating of three out of five stars, suggesting the film was broad, unsubtle, and with a cheerfully nonjudgemental attitude to drugs, itterating, that a rare 18 certificate heightened the movies attraction, given the film's laidback attitude to underage consumption of adult porn. He suggested the movie had energy and chutzpah with some laughs.[5] Helen O'Hara of Empire gave the film a rating of two out of five stars, suggesting films about bad people, and redemption stories, sometimes result in a sinner becoming a saint. However, making a film about someone bad, not seeking redemption, only driven by grievance, expressing contempt, and completely unjustified superiority over the audience, is hard to create.[7] Radio Times gave the film two out of five stars and characterised it as a reunion of Love and Dyer, commenting on the film's violence and drug-taking as central to its tone.[8]

References

  1. ^ "Marching Powder". British Council – UK Films Database. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  2. ^ "MARCHING POWDER". Altitude Film Entertainment. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  3. ^ "Marching Powder". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  4. ^ "Marching Powder (2025)". Irish Film Classification Office. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  5. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (6 March 2025). "Marching Powder review – Danny Dyer still up for it in outrageous geezer comedy". The Guardian
  6. ^ Marching Powder (2025). Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
  7. ^ "Marching Powder". 10 March 2025.
  8. ^ Mottram, James (6 March 2025). "Marching Powder review: Danny Dyer film is like a kick in the knackers". Radio Times. Retrieved 29 November 2025.