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Knockaround Guys was filmed way back in 1999, a fact that didn't exactly instill confidence in me before I saw the movie. Masterpieces don't usually sit on the shelf this long, so the assumption was Guys had enough problems to cause the studio to sneak it into theatres while Hannibal Lecter distracted the masses. Some might think the film was held back in an attempt to release it after costar Vin Diesel became America's Next Action Superstar, but nobody knew that was going to happen back in January 2001, which was Guys' original release date (and was way before surprise hit The Fast and the Furious).
Luckily, Guys is one of those films that arrive with such low expectations, a person might be surprised enough to think it's good when, in fact, it's barely mediocre. If Oscar had a category called Best Bad Film You Thought Was Going To Be Really Awful But Wasn't, Guys would probably be duking it out with The Queen of the Damned for the honor. Armed with some talented B-list actors and a quirky soundtrack, Guys' most intriguing angle is one most people will miss - the Lawrence Bender-produced film is going mano a mano with Roger Avary's The Rules of Attraction this weekend (Bender produced, among other things, all of Avary's previous big-screen efforts before his falling-out with former writing partner Quentin Tarantino).
Guys opens in 1987 Brooklyn, where young Matty Demeret (Andrew Francis) is offered a pretty unique opportunity: Put a couple of slugs in the guy whose mouth landed his father in prison. See, Matty's dad is bad-ass mobster Benny Chains (Dennis Hopper, 24), and his Uncle Teddy (John Malkovich, Shadow of the Vampire) is hoping to use this as a chance to bust Matty's gangster cherry, so to speak. But Matty can't bring himself to pull the trigger.
Flash to many years later, where Matty (Barry Pepper, We Were Soldiers) is interviewing for a job with a Manhattan sports agency. It seems like he's about to land the job when the interviewer notices Matty's employment history, makes the connection to Benny Chains and decides to take a pass (why Matty doesn't just leave the Mob stuff off his resume is beyond me). His latest failed attempt at employment means Matty has unsuccessfully tried to work at every major sports agency in town, but each is too intimidated by his past, thinking he'll simply use the job as a springboard for a myriad of illegal activity.
Matty, whose father doesn't take him seriously, isn't the only person caught between a rock and a hard place - his three best friends are also mobster spawn who can't make it in the real world because of their bloodline, yet lack the parental support to get their feet in the Mob's door. It's sort of a unique premise and is, by far, the most interesting thing happening in Guys. I've never felt so bad for rich, leather-clad goombas as I did here.
When Teddy gives him his first big opportunity to prove he isn't a screw-up, Matty enlists the help of his friends for what seems like a very simple task: Go to Spokane and pick up a suitcase with $500,000 packed inside. Everything, of course, goes wrong, starting when cokehead pilot Johnny Marbles (Seth Green, Goldmember) gets spooked by the local sheriff (Tom Noonan, The Pledge) while refueling in Wibaux, Montana. The money disappears, and before you know it, the podunk town is lousy with mobsters.
Guys was written, directed and co-produced by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, who penned the script for Rounders, a decent little film that was mostly overlooked and is still considered Edward Norton's worst picture to date. Aside from a cool scene in which Diesel (XXX) delivers a nice soliloquy before beating the stuffing out of a local, Guys is pretty derivative, especially the big Reservoir Dogs finale, which comes complete with warehouse, money and guns pointed every which way. Pepper's performance shows why he's a much more exciting young actor than Diesel, but everyone else is just plain hammy.
1:39 - R for violence, language and some drug use
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