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Knockaround Guys Customer Reviews (7 - 9 of 25 Reviews)

Koppelman and Levien, the writers behind the brilliant Rounders (and the not-so-brilliant Runaway Jury) take their first (and, to date, last) helming job with Knockaround Guys. This film has taken a lot of flak from a lot of sides, and some of it justifiably; they should have left the direction to John Dahl (Rounders) again, because we ended up with a number of above-average performances in a mess of a movie.

Matty Demaret (emerging star Barry Pepper, recently in 25th Hour and We Were Soldiers) is the kid of a mob boss known as Benny Chains (Dennis Hopper). He wants to live a normal life, but as soon as anyone hears he's a mob boss' kid, they shy away. So his only real option is to become a mob kid. Unfortunately, he tried that at thirteen and failed miserably. But he convinces his father to give him one more chance; he has to go pick up a bag of cash in Seattle and get it to New York City. He subcontracts out the job to his friend Johnny Marbles (Seth Green), who manages to lose the bag when stopping for gas in the nowhere town of Wibeaux, Montana. Matty and his friends Taylor (Vin Diesel, in what would have been his second big-screen appearance had the movie been released on time) and Chris (Andrew Davoli of Welcome to Collinwood fame) go to Wibeaux to help Marbles (Chris' brother, by the way) retrieve the money, all the while being told by Benny and Benny's right hand man Teddy (John Malkovich, reprising his Rounders role as Teddy KGB right down to the accent) that if they don't get this bag back pronto, the whole lot of them are going to be rubbed out.

Let's face it, when your main characters include Diesel, Pepper, Green, Hopper, and Malkovich, you're bound to get some good roles. Diesel, especially, is worthwhile here; his "aesthetics of fighting" monologue doesn't have the emotional resonance of the "Raisin in the Sun" monologue of Multi-Facial, but the delivery is easily on a par. Pepper and Green play their Reservoir-Dogs-esque roles capably, though as the film progresses the roles themselves get more ludicrous. Malkovich has the same quiet menace here that he did in Rounders, but the role is overexposed (it was done perfectly in the former movie). Etc. The plot pretty much falls apart after Marbles loses the money, though; the directors didn't seem sure if they wanted to make a Reservoir Dogs-style comedy or a Lifetime Original Movie coming-of-age drama. The hybrid of the two does not a real barnburner make. See it if you're a fan of any of the principals, but most of the rest of anyone will be wondering what that mess was. **

Not exactly a mafia movie....
While the film does deal with the mob, it's not what you would expect when you think of a mob movie. The only involvement of the mafia is that the Don's son's idiot friend loses case of money to a couple of stoner kids, and he and his team of four "Knockaround Guys" set out to set things right.

I only address this because those of you looking for a mob movie will find something more of a crime/mindless (yet somehow cool) movie and nothing that leans the way of Goodfellas, Godfather, or even Reservoir Dogs.

The violence in Knockaround Guys is pretty minimal. Most of the movie relies on it's actors--basically everyone besides Vin Diesel, who puts up a little better-than-average performance but ultimately relies on taking off his shirt. While this is not really a must-have movie, I would recommend it to at least be watched. It has it's highs and lows (the ending is abhoringly dry), and it's not for everyone. I wouldn't make it a blind purchase because you could easily end up hating this movie.

Not as bad as you might expect...
Ok- I admit it- I only saw this because I wanted to oggle all the attractive young men in Armani! After reading the scathing reviews I was expecting an almost unwatchable film, and I won't tell you that this is a completely original film, or that you will ever believe that Malcovich could be from Jersey. True, the plot asks you to suspend reality for a bit, but Knockaround Guys is quite a tight little film. It is really nicely put together- excellent score/soundtrack, lots of great long tracking shots, some terrific editing techniques, etc.... A lot of love and attention seems to have been lavished on it. I was pleasnantly surprised by the excellent performances of the cast, especially the younger, and rather unknown, actors. Don't get me wrong, Hopper and Malcovich turned in fairly solid performances, but it was the up-and-comings that really made the film worth watching. Barry Pepper makes Matty a sympathetic and believable character. I really, really look forward to seeing him make a name for himself in the future- quite a talented young actor. Vin Diesel, unbelievably, shines in a haunting performance as Taylor- a role that could have easily been stereotypically cardboard was fraught with emotion. I'm no Diesel fan, but it's a shame that he doesn't appear in meatier roles- now that I know that he can actually act! Even little Seth Green manages to overlook the horrible dye job (as if we could ever believe that his hair was dark brown!) and carries off his usual goofball role with dignity and, dare I say it, grace. It's a shame that most critics couldn't look past the flaws to see the film's promise.