Knowing the quality of Mamet's previous works, maybe I expected too much out of this one, but as it stands I just wasn't impressed by this film. Am I the only one who got bored during this movie? The characters were good except Fran (Rebecca Pidgeon). She is just there to deliver one-liners the whole time and provide sex appeal. I know her demeanor is quiet and conniving, but she just struts around waiting to make overly witty replies. The rest of the cast were excellent, Delroy Lindo outshined Hackman as his right-hand thug, Ricky Jay pulls off the calm and collected badass, Sam Rockwell delivers a good presence that you just hate, DeVito was awesome as the break-your-balls "bad" criminal and Hackman played his part well as he always does.
The story bored me however. You knew what was going to happen before it happened and there were too many twists in the movie that they lost their affect. Twists are good when used sparingly and when used at the right time. I didn't like the timing of them in this movie or the overuse of them. It got boring because the characters always pull something out of their hat when you "least expect it."
For me dialogue has to be two things, witty and believable. Now the dialogue in this film is witty, Mamet probably took a while to compile all these quotes into one movie, but it is too much. It is simply to much. All Rebecca Pidgeon says is these crafty responses and she engages no real conversation. As for believable, people don't speak like this. No one, not even the coolest cat in the world and half the time I am trying to figure out what the hell they mean.
The plot is way too contrived, it is too much. Their is a backup plan, for a backup plan, for a backup plan, for a ... The scene on the runway was crap, impossible. Never would have happened. Too many "overly" perfect plans and too many twists make this plot boring to watch.
Wait for the rental.
