Knockaround Guys
Review by Clint Morris
 When
Knockaround Guys hits video, here’s doubting they’ll
smack one of those ‘in the tradition of’ headlines
on its sleeve.
Not because it’s a bad movie, but because there are
simply too many other flicks out there like it.
You know the one – a bag of loot goes missing and it
slips through the hands of many a band before arriving back
into the clutches of its rightful owner? Yep, thought so.
Pretty soon Blockbuster will have shelving put aside for
that one such genre...
Barry Pepper stars as Matty Demaret, the son of alleged New
York mob heavy Benny "Chains" Demaret (Dennis Hopper).
Since Matty's family ties won't let him get a justifiable
job if his life depended on it, he seeks out more "heavy"
work from his dad, hoping to graduate from the ranks of errand
boy.
Matty's ship comes in, finally, when he convinces Uncle Teddy
(John Malkovich) that he has the passion to handle the delivery
of a $500,000 payment due to the family business.
But thanks to a panicked move by Matty's ineffectual pilot
friend Marbles (Seth Green), the delivery goes askew and the
money ends up in a small Montana town, where the local types
decide it’s for their a-taking.
Rounding up other petty mobsters (Vin Diesel and Andrew Davoli),
Matty and Marbles travel to the secluded town to convalesce
the cash before Chains and Teddy discover the job's gone wrong.
Unlike a lot of those ‘cash bag’ capers, the effervescent
all-star cast of the film on topic here makes Knockaround
Guys well worth your focus.
Completed quite a while back, but only released now to cash-in
on the success of Vin Diesel, there’s a lot to like about
Knockaround Guys.
The cast is a hoot – Pepper, Diesel and Malkovich especially
– and, although the plot’s about as new-fangled
as third-hand toilet paper, there’s enough pithy lines
and swift velocity to take the focus off the rehash.
These guys might be a little vicious, impetuous and overconfident
for their own good – but they also know how to keep you
entertained for a spell.
3 out of 5
Knockaround Guys
Australian release: Thursday March 13
Cast: Barry Pepper, Vin Diesel, Seth Green, Andrew Davoli,
John Malkovich, Dennis Hopper, Tom Noonan.
Director: Denzel Washington.
Website: Click
here
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