Knock 'Knockaround Guys' off your must-see list
By Marshall Fine
The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News
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| KNOCKAROUND GUYS (Rated R for profanity, graphic violence, sexuality) One and One-Half Stars (Poor-to-Fair).
The son of a mobster tries to impress his dad by doing a job for him, but it goes horribly wrong. An interesting idea for a movie that also goes wrong. Starring Barry Pepper, Vin Diesel, John Malkovich, Dennis Hopper. Directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien. New Line Cinema, 95 minutes. |
Written and directed by the team of Brian Koppelman and David Levien, "Knockaround Guys" has some interesting ideas at its core and a quirky sensibility.
Barry Pepper stars as Matty Demaret, who wants nothing out of life except to be a sports agent. But no one will hire him for a very good reason: His father is notorious gangster Benny Chains (Dennis Hopper) and they fear that hiring Matty will mean taking on Benny as a silent partner.
Matty just wants to make it on his own merits but finally realizes that will never happen. So why not step up and see whether he has the aptitude to be part of the family business? One key reason: As a kid, Matty chickened out when presented the opportunity to shoot the snitch that sent his father to prison. As a result, his father has never taken him seriously.
But Matty convinces him he's ready to try again. He takes charge of the chore of going cross-country to pick up a large chunk of cash to bail his father out of trouble. He enlists a pilot friend, Jimmy Marbles (Seth Green), to run the errand, then must enlist three other pals to bail Jimmy out when he loses the bag of cash during a fuel stop in Montana.
The culture clash between Brooklyn mob wannabes and the locals in a tiny Montana town should be good for laughs, but Koppelman and Levien can only find the obvious ones. Their plotting is simplistic and they quickly abandon comedy in favor of a gangster shoot-'em-up, which is easier (but more brain-deadening).
Pepper wears a perpetual squint of frustration that doesn't allow for much range as a young man chafing to make good. Diesel, on the other hand, is perfect as the strong, silent guy who never minces words and isn't afraid to do what needs to be done. John Malkovich is entertaining but improbable as Benny Chains' right-hand man.
"Knockaround Guys" can't make up its mind what it wants to do and simply runs out of gas in the end.
Rated R for profanity, graphic violence, sexuality.
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