Economy Size Geek

Smokin’ Aces (2006)

I don’t know if I should be more amazed at how much this movie sucked - or how much I liked the parts that didn’t.

Basic plot - There’s a guy named Buddy “Aces” Israel. He’s on the mob’s hit list. The movie is about a bunch of different people who want to kill him and how they all collide.

Let’s start with the good parts. The writer did a good job of painting characters with big bright colors. Basically, there are a bunch of characters all dumped on you at once. The good news is that they all end up being memorable enough that you actually think you know them even though you don’t learn that much about them. Character side - pretty good.

The action is fun. I’m always a fan of seeing people pinned down by a .50 caliber rifle. There is a ton of weaponry and action. A man kills himself on his own chainsaw. Action side - very enjoyable

So if you are looking for a fun action movie with out a lot of plot - I can kind of recommend this movie.

This brings us to the bad side. I mentioned that they drop a bunch of characters on you. The assassins are great. Jason Bateman as a stoned out lawyer is great. But they ended up casting some people in the wrong places. Andy Garcia as the top man at the FBI is doing the exact same character he did in Ocean’s 11 with even less emotion.

They put Ryan Reynolds as a dramatic lead. This is the guy from Van Wilder for god’s sake! Comedy he can sort of do - but drama - are you kidding me…

Which leads into the real problem with the movie. The writer/director (Joe Carnahan) thought he was being so smart by making up this incredibly convoluted story to get all these people to go to the same place at the same time and try to kill Buddy. If he had left it at that, I would have been ok with this movie. I mean in the end Buddy lives or dies - but really he’s just as aMacGuffin. You should really care about him - you should care about how th other character maneuver to kill him - and each other in the process.

Instead - he does it just the opposite. The movie is all about Buddy and his connection to the mob. The assassins are a distraction from the actual plot line.

I’m not going to bother blowing the story since the only thing this movie probably has going for it is a “twist ending” that is so bad you will want to hurt someone.

This is only the second movie in my life (Hello AI) that I thought would be remarkably improved if you walked out early. So let me say this near the end of the film there is a scene where Ryan Reynolds is in a penthouse. He starts asking Andy Garcia for answers. They are going to fade to black. The movie will come back. At that moment pick up all your belongings, and get the hell out of the theater. I mean it. What they are going to say in the last 10 minutes of the film is going to be stupid, very stupid. In fact, I think I’m a little bit dumber for having watched the film.On top of that, if you stay you are going to watch Ryan Reynolds try to his impersonation of an actor trying to win an Academy Award for most over acted ending in 2006.

Bottom Line: Want something stupid and fun - fine - just leave 10 minutes early and no one will get hurt.