Knockaround Guys
A big score goes wrong in a big way for a bunch of aspiring gangsters in this crime comedy. Matty Demaret (Barry Pepper) is the son of a mid-level Brooklyn mob boss, Benny "Chains" Demaret (Dennis Hopper). When Matty was 12 years old, Benny and Uncle Teddy (John Malkovich) decided to see if Matty had what it took to be in the mob; they gave the boy a gun and ordered him to shoot a longtime enemy of the family. Matty lacked the nerve to do it, and ever since, Benny has been convinced his son is a coward. As an adult, Matty is stuck between a rock and a hard place; he'd like to work as a sports agent, but his family's criminal ties make that all but impossible, and his dad won't give him a chance in the family's operations. Uncle Teddy decides to give Matty a chance to make good by asking him to pick up a payment of $500,000 in Spokane, WA. Matty puts together a crew of three friends, all sons of mob guys, to help him out: muscle bound Taylor (Vin Diesel), ladies' man Chris (Andrew Davoli), and cocaine-addled would-be pilot Johnny (Seth Green). Getting the money goes just fine, but during a refueling stop in Montana, Johnny has to hide the money to keep it from being discovered. It's then promptly stolen by a pair of burnouts. When Matty and his crew discover the money is missing, they head back to Montana, but before long, they find out that the sheriff (Tom Noonan) is onto them, and that he has his own plans for the cash; they also learn that Uncle Teddy has some plans he didn't tell them about. Knockaround Guys marked the directorial debut for the screenwriting team of Brian Koppelman and David Levien. more..
Director: Brian Koppelman
Starring: Barry Pepper, Andrew Davoli, Seth Green,Vin Diesel,John Malkovich
The movie crosses two formulas -- Fish Out of Water and Coming of Age -- fairly effectively. Because it isn't wall-to-wall action but actually bothers to develop its characters and take an interest in them, it was not at first considered commercial by its distributor, New Line, and languished on the shelf for two years.
It has no twistiness or intrigue, and none of the juicy anthro-underworld detail that Koppelman and Levien brought to their screenplay for the tricky, enjoyable ''Rounders.''
Likable performances are critically wounded by implausible scenarios and derivative-minded direction referencing everything from ''Reservoir Dogs'' to ''Fargo.''
Not as bad a movie as it sounds, just mediocre.
There's nothing original about the father-son conflict that forms the core of the film, nor is there enough suspense and drama.
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