The plot of “Killing Them Softly” centers on a deadly Catch-22. A genial guy named Markie Trattman (Ray Liotta) operates high-stakes poker games for the mob. One night the game is hit by two hooded stick-up men, who make off with a big pile of mob money. This in itself is suspicious, because it looks like an inside job: What outsider, even knowing about the secret game, would be crazy enough to steal from the mob?

Talk about crazy. Some time later, Markie, feeling in a good mood in flashback, tells the players he arranged a previous job himself, robbing his own game. He finds this so funny that tears run down his cheeks. The job was pulled off by insignificant crooks Johnny Amato (Vincent Curatola) and Russell (Ben Mendelsohn), and since it happens near the beginning of the film, we know instinctively that Russell and Johnny aren't going to be around at the end.

A high-level mob boss named Mickey (James Gandolfini) arrives in town, hauling his in-flight luggage through the airport like a traveling businessman. He orders the executions of Russell and Johnny by a silky hit man named Jackie (Brad Pitt), who likes to kill softly, as explained by one of the many aging classic songs on the soundtrack. These are the first two of many, many mob-on-mob killings in the film, as the syndicate administers its own version of a bailout.

Ebert did not write this review. I don't believe he is attending screenings right now due to a health issue (not cancer, but rather a foot injury).

He did, however, write a Killing Them Softly review with glaring errors:



Anyone who has seen the film will spot them.