Fans turn on Ritchie and Madonna

Madonna said she enjoyed not having to work the red carpet

Guy Ritchie and his wife Madonna have been booed at the UK premiere of his new film Revolver after making little contact with the crowd.

The couple walked past most of the 2,000 people in London's Leicester Square without signing autographs.

The gangster film's star Jason Statham spent almost an hour meeting fans.

One fan later told the BBC News website that the booing was started by the press when they were unable to take good photos of the couple.

Ritchie hit back at savage reviews, telling reporters: "The critics have been harsh all the way through my career but it doesn't affect me."

The bad critical reaction was inevitable because the film's concept was "tricky", he added.

Asked why he did not give Madonna a role, Ritchie replied: "Do you think they would let me get away with that? I did that last time, it didn't work."

Ritchie directed his wife in Swept Away three years ago, but the result was derided by both cinemagoers and the press.

The Hollywood Reporter said box office takings would be "modest"

But Madonna defended her husband's new work, telling Sky News: "I love it. I think it's a very brave film, a bit macho."

She also said she enjoyed not having to work the red carpet, saying it was fun to just "dress up and show up".

Her sling, a result of a broken collarbone and hand and three cracked ribs, will be coming off in a week, she revealed.

Ritchie made his name with hit gangster films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.

Revolver features Statham as a criminal who revives a feud with a gangland boss. It also stars Ray Liotta and Andre 3000 of hip-hop group OutKast.

"After Revolver, Swept Away now looks like Citizen Kane," the Guardian newspaper said.

"Ritchie's new film lands on cinemagoers' collective heads like a sack of wet sand."

Variety magazine has called it "tedious" and "convoluted" while the Hollywood Reporter criticised its "pretentious style".