The willfully nasty Johnny ,goes on a journey of self-debasement ..full of pretention ,but with an undeniable wit under an armoured shell of spite..Johhny lays waste to all in his path.Ridiculing and emotionally crushing those he encounters,it is only when he is attacked physically that we feel any sympathy.When his cleverness wont help. By the end,he has blended in with the misfits,the damaged goods he has encountered.Along with this excoriating narrative,Mike Leigh unnacountably includes a ludicrously daft "posh" character plot-line,that seems from a different film altogether.He does this (thankfully) briefly,again in "Happy Go Lucky". Introducing a comically "dangerous" element ..He needs a better editor.