brianwhite5 Probably Caan's best movie , a great cast, subtle comedy, brilliant direction and pure originality.

LeonLouisRicci Completely Inoffensive and Mildly Engaging Offbeat Black Comedy that is a Crime Story Punctuated with Quirky Characters and Odd Situations. James Caan is at the Center of this Iconic Seventies Cast Including Peter Boyle, Sally Kellerman, Louise Lasser and a Few RecVees.It Moves Along Comfortably while Occasionally Hitting Speed Bumps and Veering Off Center Shifting Tones While Playing Everything Perfectly Dead Panned and Straight. Kellerman Steals the Show but Not Totally Playing a Most Energetic and Eccentric Air-Head, as Everyone Seems to be Having a Grand Old Time.Not for All Tastes it is an MGM Movie when the Studio was Dying and Frankly it didn't have a Clue what was Going On Culturally at the Time as Films were Exploding with a New Found Independence and a Near Fifty Year Formula Followed by the Industry had Recently Crumbled into Dust.Overall, Worth a Watch for its Differentness and to See a Good Cast at Play. It's a Hoot of a Heist Movie that was Experimental and it Works Quite Well Most of the Time.

Sturgeon54 I enjoy quirky movies, but more importantly, I enjoy movies that have a well-developed plot line. This movie is the former but not the latter. I'm not going to get into the details of the plot line because, though complex, it ends up being basically pointless. This is a movie that epitomizes the expression: "It's not the destination, but the journey, that counts." Sorry, but I only spend my hard-earned money and time on films that have a destination, that have some reason for existing. This one doesn't seem to. What is the appeal that this obscure movie holds for so many people? If a bordeline-slapstick storyline with strange but uninteresting characters is what counts for originality in film, then that must be why almost every review of this I have read says it's terrific. Evidently, it is a comedy, but I did not laugh once. Obviously, I must be missing the part of the brain that all these other reviewers have that makes them find this downright hilarious. There are some terrific actors here: James Caan, Peter Boyle, Sally Kellerman, and they can turn in good performances blindfolded, so their work here is what keeps this from being a totally bad film. Only Allen Garfield's scuzzy character showing up late in the film kept me interested. They should have just made a movie about him, instead. This movie is not a sleeper, it is a movie that's just asleep.

otto.muller "Slither" is a perfect, subversive, character-driven comedy that in its own way belongs in the same category as "Pocket Money." Both are sly, low-key studies of American losers, with McGuffins in both films merely serving as excuses for the characters to bump up against each other and to wrestle with their sweet, ever-lasting ineptitude. Not the least of "Slithers"'s triumphs is its perfect cast. Could any film fan in his right mind have imagined James Caan, Peter Boyle, Sally Kellerman, Allen Garfield, Richard B. Schull, and Alex Rocco (the latter was "Moe Green" in "The Godfather") in the same movie? Caan is wonderful as a laconic, recently released con whose brief visit with an old friend turns into a comedic nightmare involving murder, the hunt for a bag of money, and continuing sinister goings-on. The plot, which isn't meant to be taken seriously, never gets in the way of the picture's real interest: examining the human off-kilteredness that lies just inches below the surface of American life. Boyle steals the film as a classic American type, the small-town third-rate entertainer who performs masterfully at Kiwanis Club dances and similar venues. His patented shtick while emceeing an event is so breathtakingly awful, you either want to condole with him or grab a barf bag. Kellerman is equally good as every man's worst nightmare, a nut case who is likely to remind many males in the audience of a certain former girlfriend known briefly. To Caan's--and our--astonishment, she goes from intriguingly sexy to nutty to dangerously nutty in all of 15 minutes of screen time; nor can he get rid of her once he's bedded her. Louise Lasser's role is small and offers her less opportunity to shine, but she's perfect as Boyle's loyal, compliant wife who never seems to know that she's married to a squirm-inducing jerk. Script and direction mesh perfectly, and Caan is terrific as an unflappable stoic who seems to have wandered into the wrong film by mistake and finds himself confronted with one outrageous situation after another. It feels cathartic when he finally lets go and belts Kellerman towards the end of the movie. An A+ for this exceptional off-beat "little" film that one day may be rediscovered and hailed as a classic of its kind.