romana-16
With Richard Dreyfous, Christian Slater (in a better than usual performance) and Portia De Rossi this crime/comedy is both under-rated and little known. Along the lines of "The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3" but less serious, the opening is well worth it. Diamonds, mistaken identity and harrowing narrow escape combine with De Rossi's potent female character (you'll even get to see her fire a semi- automatic! Narration throughout is great for movie buffs because the main character weaves movie references that made me smile. Not typical Hollywood, interesting and the pace is excellent. Frankly, I'm up for seeing other Chris Ver Weil movies (he both writes and directs) and found out he's basically only done "Waiting Game." Anyone know it?
aimdav
This one at least, is original. Even though it does follow many clichés and movie plots, it does so with individuality. It's real focus is the story, it doesn't build to any dramatic, heart-stopping climax, but its better that way, it gives it an even flow. And makes it comfortable unpredictable.The film is written and directed by Chris Ver Wiel, it seems it is his story, his piece, that he wrote and directed, I am a fan of that sort of novelty.Nice for an entertaining, easy-going, story movie. Watch it some evening when you feel like curling up with a good book. That is my best analogy for it.8 out of 10, for what it is.
mozli
I'm referring to Tim Allen's CRITICAL JIM character. He's pretty funny in this movie. He is a murdering sociopathic hitman but he has a soft spot for good stories/happy endings. I didn't care for this movie until 3/5ths the way through it then the dogged work of the detective who figures out SPOILER AHEAD:that Tout isn't who he says he is and the whole business of putting the crime lord's son in jail would be wrecked if the cops followed the letter of the law. I like those kinds of twists where you have to do the wrong thing to get the right resolution. Only in the movies.
sarastro7
This is a movie that uses one of those "clever" dirty tricks that the writer ought to have avoided: It's analyzing itself so tightly that, according to its own analysis, it is necessarily a masterpiece. It's blowing its own trumpet. It's too self-aware. And the pity is that it doesn't need it. It starts out slow, but it's actually a very good story, which should have been allowed to run its course *au naturel*, without the over-analytical commentary by Critical Jim. This, for me, is the main reason why this movie fails to garner more than a 6 out of 10.Another reason is, as I said, it starts out too slow. It takes too long to get into high gear. It has too little to engage the viewer. For half the movie, the only thing that makes you want to spend your time on it is Portia de Rossi's prettiness. To be a really good movie, it needed to have had a number of more attractive elements, be they pretty women or interesting plot turns.
AD
