Who Is Cletis Tout? (2001)

Director:

Chris Ver Wiel

Writer (WGA):

Chris Ver Wiel (written by)

Release Date:

21 December 2001 (Spain)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

Getting the alias was half the battle. Surviving it is the other.

Plot:

Cletis Tout is a comedy about mistaken identities, a hit man who sees everything in terms of the movies and a twenty year old diamond heist. |

Plot Keywords:

Heist | Diamond | Independent Film

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Christian Slater	...	Trevor Allen Finch
Tim Allen	...	Critical Jim
Portia de Rossi	...	Tess Tobias
Richard Dreyfuss	...	Micah Tobias
Billy Connolly	...	Dr. Mike Savian
Peter MacNeill	...	Detective Tripp (as Peter MacNeil)
Bill MacDonald	...	Detective Delaney
Richard Chevolleau	...	Detective Horst
Elias Zarou	...	Detective Rafferty
RuPaul	...	Ginger Markum
Joseph Scoren	...	Rowdy Virago
Eugene Lipinski	...	Falco
Shawn Doyle	...	Crow Gollotti
Louis Di Bianco	...	Nimble
Tony Nappo	...	Fife

Also Known As:

Cletis Tout (Canada: English title) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some violence and sexuality.

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Canada:14A | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Spain:13 | USA:R | Canada:A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Fireworks Entertainment

Trivia:

Sarah Michelle Gellar was offered the Portia de Rossi role, but turned it down.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: During the father-daughter train ride to hide the box (set in the 1970s), the two locomotives shown are in CSX paint. The railroad CSX was not formed until July 1, 1986 as a renaming of the Seaboard System Railroad and Chessie System into one entity. CSX never had passenger service.

Quotes:

Rowdy Virago: You two cheesedicks couldn't improvise a fart after eating a three bean salad.

Movie Connections:

References It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)

Too self-conscious, but a good story

This is a movie that uses one of those "clever" dirty tricks that the writer ought to have avoided: It's analyzing itself so tightly that, according to its own analysis, it is necessarily a masterpiece. It's blowing its own trumpet. It's too self-aware. And the pity is that it doesn't need it. It starts out slow, but it's actually a very good story, which should have been allowed to run its course *au naturel*, without the over-analytical commentary by Critical Jim. This, for me, is the main reason why this movie fails to garner more than a 6 out of 10.

Another reason is, as I said, it starts out too slow. It takes too long to get into high gear. It has too little to engage the viewer. For half the movie, the only thing that makes you want to spend your time on it is Portia de Rossi's prettiness. To be a really good movie, it needed to have had a number of more attractive elements, be they pretty women or interesting plot turns.