Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

SnoopyStyle Ronnie (Gary Stretch) befriends jittery August (Michael Rapaport) and later mentors him to be a hit man. Three years later, August gets into trouble killing the wrong man who turns out to be a made man. Ronnie tries to save August despite the objections of his wife Dana (Robin Givens). He does work for Madison (Debbie Harry) to buy time for August. On the other hand, he's cheating with Ronnie's girlfriend and his ex Paige. Killing couple slash siblings Donnie (Ralph Macchio) and Marie (Ally Sheedy) are working for mobster Guy (Seymour Cassel). Director Craig Singer is trying way too hard borrowing various styles. He tries to do superfluous funny dialog but it's nowhere as sharp as Tarantino. He uses quick edits, philosophizing, and time flashbacks but it all feels derivative. Sometimes, it gets interesting but the central plot struggles to advance in this meandering flow. Stretch doesn't have enough charisma to lead. Macchio and Sheedy have a great nostalgia factor. Overall, this tries too much and ends up with a bit of a mess.

spikeage84 I saw this movie at its premier at the Tribeca film festival. The director was in the theatre so the desire to laugh out loud was quelched, but looking back I'm not quite sure how I managed to contain myself. This was almost a good movie, the dialogue was good, the acting was good...the dialogue was good. The biggest problem was that it had many long, well written, funny scenes that had absolutely nothing to do with the movie. It meandered to the point where I had no idea where the film was going, and had already stopped caring. At one point the film stops in the middle of a graphic action scene to do a long, creepy claymation sequence that came completely out of left field. It wasn't a bad scene, it just didn't make any sense in context. There was definitely some talented people involved in making this movie, to bad that doesn't equal a good movie.

chet19 A weak attempt at the Lock Stock & 2 Smoking Guns genre, this film contains incoherent scenes where the director tries too hard to put his mark on the screen. You're watching a gangster film one moment, then all of a sudden, you see the characters in claymation acting out the next scene. You see a murder, then every time the murder is mentioned later, you have to see it again via flashback..as if the director thought we'd forget the murder that happened 4 minutes ago? The plot lacks too. One of those frustrating plots where a professional business-like hitman has a retard, loud-mouth protege/buddy who screws every hit up. Instead of whacking the "buddy" for screwing up (which would happen in real life), the hitman gives him chance after chance. Terribly unrealistic. Boring scenes that add nothing to the plot include some dude who raises chickens in his penthouse (why was the hitman even there? To kill him, buy guns, or what??) and a producer who wants to make the hitman's life into a tv show. Great casting and acting though. I didn't even recognize the Karate Kid and barely recognized Blondie. Mike Tyson's 1st wife and the dude who played Brett in Pulp Fiction were great.

wayne2324 this film is a joy after the usual run-of-the-mill indie mediocrities. the story is taut and well written and the director demonstrates the deft touch of an accomplished storyteller. kudos to the director of photography who seems to have unlocked the new york city visuals in such a story-friendly manner. special admiration for the acting of michael rappoport who steals the show. his talents alone are worth the price of admission. this is a sharp little number that can just be enjoyed for its own sake, without all the pretensions of so many films that cry out to be dissected by the "critics". this is the type of film that sundance wishes it could generate.