The Wrong Man
Review
by Guy Davis
“Charlie
Chaplin once entered a Charlie Chaplin lookalike contest in Monte Carlo
and came in third,” says Bruce Willis’s character, hired gun
Mr.Goodkat, at the start of the film. “That’s a story. This is
something else.” Indeed. Thanks to films like Pulp Fiction and Snatch, filmmakers like Paul McGuigan (Wicker Park)
have felt the urge to toss the script and bring in the jigsaw puzzle.
You know how it goes - they’ll help you put some of the pieces in
place, and then you’ll have to put the rest in yourself. In the case of The Wrong Man, a cocky ensemble thriller that’s part North by Northwest, a smidgen Sin City and a dash Snatch,
there’s a couple of pieces left on the floor by film’s end. Where do
they fit? Your guess is as good as mine. Would’ve looked much nicer had
everything fit more nicely, that’s for sure. A synopsis doesn’t
do a film like this any justice, but let’s scratch the surface all the
same: Josh Hartnett plays Slevin, a likeable young chap who – because
he’s shacking up at his place – is mistaken for a man named Nick
Fisher. The Boss (Morgan Freeman) is owed some big time loot from
Fisher, but if he offers to assassinate the son of his rival, The Rabbi
(Ben Kingsley), then the debt will be cleared. Thing is, Slevin isn’t
Nick Fisher. Throw in a hyper but likeable neighbour (Lucy
Liu), a shadowy hitman (Bruce Willis), and a dogged detective (Stanley
Tucci) – and the puzzle starts to form. Smart, Funny, Imaginative and very, very entertaining. That’s the first two acts of Wrong. Manipulative, Rushed, Unsatisfying. That’s the third act of Wrong. As Meatloaf will attest to though, Two out of three ain’t bad, and it stills means the penned libretto for Wrong is light years ahead of most Hollywood yarns. There
are plenty of twists, some delicious character turns, and most of all,
some sometimes uproarious, sometimes just damn succulent, pop-culture
referenced discourse. Screenwriter Jason Smilovic (who developed the TV
series Karen Sisco) has a
PHD in the channel of communication. It’s obvious. Some of the prattle
he hasn’t written into this is brilliant. Better than brilliant. It’s
Ice Cream-tasty. Then, like he hasn’t got a home for all his
flaccid plot points, his script quickly comes up with a purported
‘surprise’ ending – which isn’t that surprising – and falls a little
flat. All the hard work that had been done in setting up the fantastic
scenarios and characters in the first hour or so - is undone. Bummer. Still, something half as good as, say, Pulp Fiction or Snatch is still a good film…. better than good. Hopefully this is just writer Smilovic’s warm-up lap. Well worth a squiz. 3.5 out
of 5
The Wrong Man
Australian release: 9th November, 2006
Cast: Josh Hartnett, Lucy Liu, Ben Kingsley, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman
Director: Paul McGuigan
Website: Click
here.
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