A pointless movie with a story that is neither particularly funny nor interesting. If you want to see a movie about plan going wrong, check out Fargo or even The Ladykillers. This is Coens wanna-be.

D+

I have to agree, rather bland movie. I was hoping for it to be funnier but it had about two sorta funny scenes. When Billy Bob Thorton was on screen, it was funny but he wasn't on screen long enough in most cases.

indeed.

funny once or twice, but terribly bland overall.

I liked it and all, but by the end this darn movie just wore me out. Not as good as the recent Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang or Derailed...

3 out of 5.

Agree. It was a really dull movie that cannot decide whether it wants to be a dark comedy or a straight film noir drama. The actors all look incredibly bored, to boot.

Grade - D

It's not particularily bad... I've seen worse films. But, it's not interesting and not funny at all. There's nothing really redeeming about the film, except John Cusack. I'll watch him in just about anything.

Grade: D+

since this was like by both Ebert & Roeper < liked the black comedy aspect.

here is the ending paragraph of Ebert paper review > No spoilers.

I liked the movie for the quirky way it pursues humor through the drifts of greed, lust, booze, betrayal and spectacularly complicated ways to die. I liked it for Charlie's essential kindness, as when he pauses during a getaway to help a friend who has run out of gas. And for the scene-stealing pathos of Oliver Platt's drunk, who like many drunks in the legal profession achieves a rhetorical grandiosity during the final approach to oblivion. And I liked especially the way Roy, the man in the trunk, keeps on thinking positively, even after Vic puts bullets through both ends of the trunk because he can't remember which end of the trunk Roy's head is at. Maybe it's in the middle.

Wow, I got to say I really think you're all looking at the film the wrong way. It's not that it "couldn't decide" whether or not it was a flat-out comedy or straight drama. Rather, I'd say that the film just went a quirkier, more streamlined (not to be confused with "bland") route of focusing exclusively on just this one night. We don't know how they stole the money, we don't get an epilogue with people kicking back on some tropical island. What we instead get is a rare instance of a director cleverly mixing comedic timing with suspenseful tension. As a result, the film accurately reflected the meandering, booze-soaked nature of it's characters as it steadily built up to a blood soaked final third. It's a quirky film to be sure, and I think it's a case of the film being greater then a sum of it's parts, but I'm a bit surprised no one else has appreciated it more then they have. Yeah, some of the performances aren't played very loudly, and on the surface it's not full of the usual stuff that gets people excited, but I guess it'll just have to wait for DVD to get a proper following. B

Let's see...

- It's not funny.
- It's not interesting.
- It's pointless.
- The performances were average.
- It bored me to death.

Yeah, I think that sums it up well.

D

That's why you should've watched In Her Shoes and not some junk like this.

Wow. I must say, I'm surprised by the horrible reaction this film got here. Yeah, it's no masterpiece, but it's solid, neo noir fun. The cast is great all around, it's got some pretty funny moments (Billy Bob Thorton's prayer as he dies is classic), good twists and turns, and some shockingly brutal violence. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

B+

The movie was watchable - I was never bored while watching it - but I expected a lot more in the end. The twist just wasn't that shocking and the attempt at comedy didn't work. A few things didn't make much sense to me - such as why would Vic torture the mob boss as if he was trying to get information (he cut off his thumb), or why would Vic let him bandage his hand up before placing him in the trunk? I also can not figure out the importance or symbolism of the Witchita Falls saying... perhaps I'm just slow, but they kept saying it over and over again like it was of some signficance.

Either way, none of the characters were that fascinating or intriguing, and I didn't feel a lot for any of them. This will be a movie I will forget in a few weeks.

5.75 out of 10 (C-)

I don't think anyone mentioned this yet, but the movie is only 80 minutes long. A film this short that feels this long has to have something wrong with it. Despite a few bright spots, it's mostly bland and uninteresting. There's really no moral or central theme that hasn't been mined dozens of times before (and far more successfully), and the movie is clumsy in its attempt to be "film-noire". I agree with Ebert about Oliver Platt, and I did like Thorton despite the fact that he's capable of better, but overall I really didn't like the movie.

C-

Underrated. I thought it was a good dark comedy. Nowhere near being the best by director Harold Ramis, but I enjoyed the film, especially Oliver Platt.

B

I have to agree with the majority. It felt much longer than it was... that's not a good thing. C-

Slightly amusing - and only slightly - if only for Oliver Platt's drunken performance, which is pretty much slapstick comedy. Other than that, it's really got nothing going for it. The entire story is pretty stupid, and has absolutely no depth to it at all. None of the characters are interesting or even likeable, and for such a short movie, the plot meanders far too much. It's only redeeming qualities are the humour, which is sporadic but quite dark, and a decent performance by John Cusack. That's about it.

It was alright, but wasted a great cast and an intriguing premise. Not something I'd have any urge to watch again.

C+

C-


What happened to Harold Ramis?!

The film is pretty much a failed attempt at a comedic noir flick and it especially fails on the former aspect. There is barely one or two laughs in the entire flick. Billy Bob Thorton is wasted and so is the beautiful Connie Nielsen. John Cusack is unbelievably bland, playing a little likeable character. The only member of the cast who gets away in good shape from this film is Oliver Platt who delivers a small, yet very delightful performance.

Overall a letdown.

i saw this. i didn't mind it. can hardly remember it though.

I rewatched this yesterday and actually found it to be entertaining. But I had just seen the dreadful War, Inc. before it so maybe anything would've been good by comparison.

***/****