Knockaround Guys (2001)

There's a big difference between a brilliant cast and a list of fine actors. This film certainly has the latter. John Malkovich, Barry Pepper, Dennis Hopper, Tom Noonan, Arthur Nascarella and lets add Vin Diesel. OK, so not a great actor, but used properly (as in Saving Private Ryan) he can be a real asset. Seth Green also stars.

There's actually a decent formula to watch this thing with: Pause at every crossroad and come up with 2-3 scenarios of what is most likely to go wrong. Then press play and see what you've won. Thus runs the film. Murphy's law. It's not original

I would like to give kudos for the use of Dylan's brilliant classic "Not dark yet" but it adds little under the circumstance and is not helped by stale dialogue in a less then memorable scene. The director fails miserably at creating suspense to the inevitable shootout and even though he uses all the tricks he has in his bag (slow-motion) it's still predictable and dull. It's all been done before. And usually better.

The director really wants to be cool and the most likely reason he casted Malkovich and Hopper was to get some excellent dialogue-scenes going. Unfortunately he simply doesn't have the script to pull that off, whether it's Pepper vs Noonan or Hopper vs. Malkovich. To make time for the non-existing dialogue there is barely any action sequences. Thus making the film boring at most times. Add that to predictability and you have what is likely to be a good payday for the actors involved and a waste of time for all others.

2/10