Review: Knockaround Guys (2001)
Laura Clifford
----------------
Matty Demaret's (Barry Pepper, "Battlefield Earth") never become a man
in his father's eyes ever since dad's right-hand-man Teddy Deserve (John
Malkovich) tried and failed to coach him through his first hit as a preteen.
So, while Matty's never followed in dad's footsteps, he can't score a job as
a sports agent either. Being the son of Benny 'Chains' (Dennis Hopper)
has its drawbacks. Matty, with Teddy's help, convinces dad to allow him to
handle a big money pickup, but is put in a pickle when his childhood buddy
Johnny Marbles (Seth Green, "Austin Powers") loses the bag at a rural
midwestern airport in "Knockaround Guys."
Matty gathers cousin and ladies man Chris (Andrew Davoli, "The Yards")
and hulking tough guy buddy Taylor (Vin Diesel, "Boiler Room") and make
their way to Wibaux. They formulate a plan to intimidate the town's toughest
guy and get him to nose out who has their money. Taylor quickly accomplishes
part one and they begin to tail two stoners who've been lavishly appeasing
their munchy attacks, but just as they're about to nail the potheads, they
discover that the town's Sheriff (Tom Noonan, "The Pledge") is a) one step
ahead of them and b) is corrupt. Matty must face dad's wrath, his friends'
apparent disloyalty and the humiliation of being bailed out by Teddy.
Writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien ("Rounders") also make their
directorial debut with "Knockaround Guys." They should have worked on
sharpening their script writing skills first. "Knockaround Guys" starts
with an unexpected jolt (it's disarming to see a pudgy kid handed a pistol
to take out the guy who taught him how to ride a bike) and eases into
what seems like a black coming-of-age comedy, but the film never finds its
tone becoming all too serious as it reaches its climax. The lack of humor
pervading the final reels lays bare the unoriginal workings of a plot that
could have been camouflaged, or at least forgiven, taken less seriously.
Were these guys responsible for Malkovich's marvelously skewed lines ('I
could beat his ass carrying a lawn chair in my left hand.')? The rest of
the script, unfairly or not, implies Malkovich was improvising.
Cinematographer Tom Richmond ("Waking the Dead") fails to give the film
a fresh look and, while one wouldn't expect much flash from a town like
Wibaux, the interiors are so uniformly drab the entire film looks bland
and murky.
There is pleasure to be found in some of the performances. Barry Pepper
is a plus as the conflicted Matty, a capable guy let down by the placement
of his allegiances. Vin Diesel has yet to disappoint, and his tank shirted
muscleman with a grinding-gears voice is no exception. John Malkovich, too
over the top in "Rounders," nails his mafioso here. He throws us off kilter
with his wacked (or is that whacked?) line readings and can be reassuring
to Matty one moment and ruthless the next. Dennis Hopper never bears any
resemblance to a feared mob boss, however, and even the usually creepy
Tom Noonan seems uninspired here.
"Knockaround Guys" (a euphemism for the mob) leaves an interesting cast
rattling around an empty structure.
C-
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
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(Note: this review was written in May, 2001.)
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Steve Rhodes
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2002 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
KNOCKAROUND GUYS is a mediocre Mafia movie that was released to theaters for
only one reason -- the newfound popularity of one of its stars, Vin Diesel
(XXX). After languishing on the studio's shelf for three years, the movie,
written and directed by ROUNDERS's writing team of Brian Koppelman and David
Levien, was dusted off and shipped to theaters with the hope of cashing in on
Diesel's cachet. It has direct-to-video written all over it. It does leave one
wondering if the reason the cinematography appears so dark and dull is that they
couldn't get all of the grime off of the negative.
The setup has the boss's boy, Matty Demaret (Barry Pepper), trying to prove to
his pop, Benny 'Chains' (Dennis Hopper), that he really is a chip off the old
block. Circumstances conspire, of course, to screw up his first job for dear
old dad. With a bag full of a half million in cash lost in a tiny town, Matty
calls on his buddies, Taylor Reese (Vin Diesel), Johnny Marbles (Seth Green) and
Chris Scarpa (Andrew Davoli), to help locate the loot. Taylor is the barroom
brawler, Johnny is the smart-aleck doofus and Chris is the sweet-talking
playboy. The four of them use all of their limited talents to find the bag.
Their plan is to beat up the meanest guy in town with the hopes that whoever
stole the bag will hear of this and beg them to take it back.
John Malkovich, with his best Brooklyn accent, is onboard as Teddy Deserve,
Benny Chains's right-hand man. Easily the most interesting character is the
town's larcenous sheriff (Tom Noonan, who played the Tooth Fairy in MANHUNTER).
A tall, lanky guy with a big white hat, the sheriff is the only character that
has you guessing -- and caring -- about what he is going to do next. Speaking
of guessing, the story's ending has a few nice twists, or they would be if they
weren't so easy to predict. Unless you are in dire need of a Diesel fix, there
is no real reason to see KNOCKAROUND GUYS. Wait for video -- and then don't
rent it.
KNOCKAROUND GUYS runs 1:32. It is rated R for "violence, language and some drug
use" and would acceptable for most teenagers.
The film, which opened months ago in Europe, comes to the United States on
Friday, October 11, 2002. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC
theaters and the Century theaters.
Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
Email: Steve....@InternetReviews.com
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JoBlo
RATING: 6/10
http://www.joblo.com/knockaroundguys.htm
For more reviews and movie wallpapers, visit http://www.joblo.com/
PLOT:
A young hood who can't seem to get hired for any "regular" jobs because of his
mafia father's infamous last name decides to give up on the "straight" life
<insert your own Vin Diesel gay joke here> and take another shot at the mob
life. But when one of his buddies loses half a million dollars of his dad's
stash, it's up to him and three friends to fly down to a hick town and get it
back. Knocking around ensues...
CRITIQUE:
This picture was originally set for release in January 2001. That's
right...almost two years ago! Holding off on a movie is generally not a very
good sign, but in the case of this flick, the outcome turned out to be much
better than what I was fearing. In fact, compared to the absolutely incoherent
spectacle that was BALLISTIC: ECKS VS SEVER, which I saw the night before, this
baby is an Oscar hopeful. Despite never truly bowling you over at any point, it
is a decent "small" mob flick featuring a lot of big names and does entertain
overall. One thing that did take me for a loop though was that unlike some of
its early trailers seemed to portray, the film is essentially a dramatic piece
and not a comedy whatsoever. In fact, if you're expecting a "laugh a minute", go
elsewhere. It's in the same vein as a DONNIE BRASCO with specific attention paid
to the sons of mobsters and their particular "struggle" for societal acceptance.
An interesting premise to be sure, aided by the fact that most of the actors
also came to play. Barry Pepper is particularly good as the lead goombah,
lending a genuine sense of anguish and frustration to his character's forked
life. Vin Diesel is also his usual "Diesel" self and despite having more of a
secondary role here, continues to impress with his monstrous screen presence,
his massive pecs and biceps, and in this film...the stubble on top of his head
(his intro scene is an all-out kickass show-love that star of David tattoo on
the arm as well...nice touch!). I also appreciated how his character ultimately
came to terms with what/who he was. Nice.
Unfortunately, the other two friends in the pack aren't as developed, with
Andrew Davoli playing the good-looking but relatively empty charmer, while Seth
Green just plain looked out of place. I usually like the dude in pretty much
anything, but both he and Pepper's phony-looking jet-black hair stood out like
my pipi every morning. The other two big names in the film are Dennis Hopper,
who does okay but also wasn't as developed as I would have liked (he's Pepper's
father for God's sakes...let's see a little more back-story between the two) and
John Malkovich, who plays yet another goofy over-the-top accented character
named Teddy (not by coincidence either, since the dudes who wrote his Russian
character of Teddy in ROUNDERS are the same guys who wrote and directed this
film). Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention Tom Noonan, who is his usual creepy
self as the local prick sheriff. As for the story itself, it starts off a little
slow but does eventually gain momentum once the dudes get to the hick town and I
was also pleasantly surprised to see the script take a "darker" turn by its
conclusion. The directing was also competent but somewhat uneventful, and could
certainly have been livened up with a little more style and a lot more sauce in
its soundtrack. But as it stands, I would still recommend this movie since it
does feature a pretty solid cast and characters (especially Pepper), a pumped-up
Vin Diesel "going tanktop" on our ass, driving bullets through bad guys a la
Chow Yun-Fat and a pretty neat story for the most part (I was never bored). Just
don't go expecting anything to truly knock you upside the head and you should be
okay.
Where's JoBlo coming from?
Boiler Room (8/10) - Godfather (10/10) - Made (5/10) - Mafia! (5/10) - Mickey
Blue Eyes (6/10) - Pitch Black (7/10) - Red Rock West (9/10) - Rounders (7/10) -
Suicide Kings (7/10) - XxX (7/10)
Review Date: September 19, 2002
Directors: Brian Koppelman, David Levien
Writers: Brian Koppelman, David Levien
Producer: Lawrence Bender
Actors: Barry Pepper as Matty Demaret
Vin Diesel as Taylor Reese
John Malkovich as Teddy Deserve
Genre: Crime
Year of Release: 2002
-----------------------------------
JoBlo's Movie Emporium
http://www.joblo.com/
-----------------------------------
(c) 2002 Berge Garabedian
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Jon Popick
"We Put the SIN in Cinema"
© Copyright 2002 Planet Sick-Boy. All Rights Reserved.
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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