"Tonight is the night that you become a man,"
Uncle Teddy (Malkovich) preps little 13 year old
Mattie, "For as long as I've been raising you, you've
been as tough as nails." He hands Mattie the gun and
points at the unfortunate Mafia player tied to a
chair and pleading.
Fast-forward fifteen years, Mattie is now a young
man trying his best to be a normal citizen despite
the fact that his father (Hopper) is a NY Mafia
underboss. Frustrated and under-appreciated by both
the Knockaround guys and Joe Citizen, Mattie decides
to take up a life of crime in the family tradition.
For the simple job of moving a bag of cash, he
enlists a small clan of sons of Mafia tough guys
(half of which are spoiled); Taylor (Diesel) is the
only member with any experience as a bad guy. Of
course, the job ends up becoming more problematic
than anticipated.
It's an interesting twist on the Mafia genre,
really a rite of passage story that gives the picture
some depth. But this depth is only picked and poked
at, then left for the ending in hopes of impact.
Though thinner, the botched job story overpowers.
Mostly Interesting and sporting its share of
intentionally awkward tense/fun moments this story
line is severely weakened by the presence of two
incredible coincidences. We, filmgoers are usually
game for one highly unlikely coincidence per film.
We're there to have fun and are willing to suspend
statistical analysis for an amusing twist that
"actually could happen." But when we're asked to do
that more than once, one of three things usually
happens: 1. The film is a farce, or 2. The filmmakers
incredible talent sufficiently distracts our logic.
3. The filmgoer will begin to feel yanked by the
filmmakers. Here, I felt yanked.
Most of the performances are solid, but seldom
extraordinary. Though a big favorite of mine and
nonetheless charismatic, Vin Diesel delivers an
underwhelming performance pocked with drab Hollywood
tough guy lines. After "XXX," I feel a need to
remind people that Vin is actually a good actor, but
this film isn't one to give me much support. The
ornery Sheriff (Tom Noonan) and Malkovich are very
strong, however.
Even with these problems the film has a good heart
in the Mattie dilemma and engages on more than one
occasion. So I was looking forward to grading it a
B+. However, cliché dialogue scribbles over an
otherwise acceptable climax and resolution. Actually,
only a few words were necessary, possibly none. And,
what ends up in the bag at the climax also makes
little sense.
Warning! SPOILER: Ross Anthony's Revision
Notes
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