cuthwy I've always loved this movie - I discovered it by going to a movie shop and it was laying on a shelf and I decided to take a look at it. The movie featured great performances from Matthew Lillard, Vincent D'Onofrio and Valeria Golino that I absolutely enjoyed. This film had a lot of twists and turns and somehow a bad ending that I somehow liked as Lillard walked away like a total badass with the money and the merchandise. I also liked the fact that the movie is centered around antiques, that I love to collect, and Spanish Judges, two dueling pistols, truly look priceless. There are some quite outstanding scenes, such as Jack beating up Max, Jack taking the revenge on his boss who ruthlessly beat him up in a pub, Jack taking the revenge on his friend who laughed at him while he was bleeding and many others. This movie is an epic story of deceit. I suggest everyone to watch it.

nReasonable This is not a bad movie, but it sure doesn't greet the viewer in any expected way. You're not given any hit about who to like or who is the bad guy, so if you get stuck trying to figure that out it's going to make the movie less enjoyable. Although it's twisty plot makes you think that's what it's all about, you really have to approach it as a character-driven piece. Even the characters you end up disliking (I found Mars Girl annoying to no end) are played well, so you can't really fault the actors for how it doesn't all quite come together. I found myself *wanting* to like the movie more, but I felt a little too isolated as a viewer to care that much.

chthon2 Although I did give this film a high rating, I was unsatisfied with the ending.Jack (Matthew Lillard) is a slick con artist who drops in on Max (Vincent D'Onofrio) and Jamie (Valerina Golino), two small time crooks and wannabe con artists. You can tell pretty early on from quick flashbacks that most of what he says is a bunch of lies (don't worry, that's not a spoiler - they make that very clear in the first twenty minutes of the movie). He needs their help to carry out an illegal transaction, something which they have never done before. Max, a raging hot head, looks down his nose at Jack, but Jamie realizes that with their financial troubles, they don't have much of a choice.All three lead characters give terrific performances as low life criminals, and Lillard is better in this film than I have ever seen him before. Golino, who I am not familiar with, and the always excellent D'Onofrio are great as a paranoid couple. The characters may seem too shallow for some, but they required a great deal of intensity that I doubt most A-list actors could muster, especially D'Onofrio's borderline-psychotic Max.Here are the spoilers.I enjoyed the movie, but I thought the ending was a bit unrealistic and predictable. Not bad, mind you - it was ok. But Jack just drops in as a mysterious lying stranger, and you can tell that he will most likely win in the end; you've never seen a film quite this odd before, and yet, it still seems cliche` somehow. Jack was also a tad bit on the slimy, spineless side, and Jamie and Max's paranoia seems like it would have been assets to them rather than hindrances. The fight scene at the end was also poorly choreographed and hard to swallow - Lillard simply can't look as mean and tough as D'Onofrio, not to mention that D'Onofrio's character was meaner as well.Aside from this, it is worth renting if you are into violent movies with plot twists.

WildThang77 I thought this movie did an excellent job of showing just how unpredictable love can be. It was a tale of treachery and manipulation gone wrong and the consequences that must be paid.The plot kept one guessing what would happen next and was full of surprises.