Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

SincereFinest disgusting, overrated, pointless

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

blanche-2 I kept looking at the young woman and thinking, she looks like a fuller-faced Reese Witherspoon. Turns out it was Reese Witherspoon - I hadn't looked at the cast list. The film begins with Nick (Alessandro Nivola) and his college friend Bryce (Josh Brolin) in a bar. A young woman walks by, and you can see Bryce checking her out. Nick leaves, and while he's asleep, he gets a panicked call from Bryce. The woman has threatened to call the police and claim rape. Bryce has tied her up and duct taped her mouth because he's terrified and doesn't know what to do.Eventually the film flashes back to an earlier time. When his father dies, Nick assumes his father will leave him a lot of money which will help him get out of the one-horse town in which he lives. Unfortunately, his father died and left him with nothing as he was $240,000 in debt to the IRS, plus other debts.When he gets an opportunity to make some real cash by stealing money from a drug dealer, Nick agrees. Somehow the dealer finds out he's involved and has him picked up. He tells Nick if Nick pays him back, he'll forget about what happened. Nick is frantic to get the money since he no longer has his cut.Pretty good noir with good acting. Someone here commented that Alessandro Nivola is dull. I liked him because he played the character as if he was capable of anything.Not a stretch for Reese Witherspoon; the other people were fine.I liked the film, I thought it was well done, and I like that certain things were revealed in the beginning. I loved the scene where the commercial for the recycling place came on television, and Nick is so desperate to get Bryce's back to it. Very funny.In better hands, this could have been a blockbuster. But it's still good.

SnoopyStyle Bryce (Josh Brolin) reconnects with old friend Nick (Alessandro Nivola). Then he calls on Nick for help. He had drunken black-out sex with Kathy (Reese Witherspoon) who claims to be underage and threatened to call the cops. Bryce shows Nick that he had tied her up down in the basement. Four months earlier, Nick first met the girl who eventually becomes his girlfriend Lissa. He expected a big insurance payday after his father's death but instead he loses everything. He gets involved with small time hood Jimmy (Terrence Howard) to steal $40k from (Rocky Carroll). It goes sideways and Nick needs to come up with $15k as his share of the heist. Bryce is back in town housesitting and shows him a special Lincoln stay-of-execution note. He comes up with a plan to steal the note without Bryce reporting it.The turn back to the past sucks away some of the cool neo-noir vibe. This could have worked as a stylish three person play. Brolin is overacting a little and Nivola is a bit too stoic. The acting is OK and it's set up for something cool. Then the story adds in a twist. The big problem is the motivations for the twist make no sense. If Nick had the money, he would never do the job. There isn't any reason to scam him. The guy is begging to be paid at the job. Barry must have heard about it since Nick apparently tells him everything. How much money could Nick have in the bank? Even Nick's plan is questionable. I'm not sure what Bryce would do after finding the note missing. That part of the plan seems very dubious and I would think the stolen note would eventually land back on Nick. There are too many questionable plans going on here.

elshikh4 First of all (Alessandro Nivola) can't act, his provocative dead features ruined all of it. (Reese Witherspoon) is another provocative face but at least she gave her role some creditability and effort. So.. What was that anyway ? : An invitation to finance the collage students ? A good warning for everyone to "Never Trust Anybody" ! Or it's a helluva way to spent a night ! As a movie with a lead that owns nearly every cadre of it; it's one big failure, and it deserves it, because casting (Nivola) was exactly like casting a corpse to handle the job. He didn't make any respectable attempt to persuade, I bet this dude had watched too many Marlon Brando's movies and studied them BADLY I can tell you that ! Look at him seeing a flat tire in his car.. What a flat expression !! He can be sad, disappointed, angry, flirty, surprised, meditative, scared all by the same forever frozen countenance ! I gave him definitely the ultimate 0 out of 10. God.. Even losers like (Jay Mohr) can show more vitality than him ! PLUS how (Mike Barker)'s direction looked pedantic and tasteless. For instance, some of the scenes were overdone; they filmed the first telling of the story (from the confused professor to his friend) with a camera running with the 2 actors in circles??!!, the lighting insisted on being a forever sick yellow. The music, very much like the lead, didn't do anything to the whole story. Add to that : Some strange dramatic doings; the professor wants to kill the girl to end the night peacefully !, the drug dealer talking like an economic high expert and the lead doesn't concern !?? I said to myself Hey.. It's such a renewal in stereotype character to discover that it's just an idiocy!. Observe the performance to feel how bad the direction was, (Josh Brolin) was the best of it but even when he looks at the dead girl comes-to-life at the end he was for moment stricken by contagion of his fellow actor's dull expressions ! It's not a very good Noir about such situation of unbalanced community full of exploiters, thieves, bloodsuckers, backstabbers, where everybody scheming everybody, and the word "friendship" doesn't exist. Though it was close to that. Anyhow I had a terrible night watching this and I'm sorry to say it : this is one of those rare movies where I ask myself what did you enjoy in it? To replay: I enjoyed nothing !

triple8 SPOILERS THROUGH:I didn't think this was great, certainly not a movie along the lines of a "Usual Suspects" or "House Of Games" which are two of my favorites. But this movie is interesting and keeps one's attention. As long as one doesn't expect a masterpiece it maybe worth seeing.One positive is that the movie actually manages to surprise. In a movie world of predictability, this one is rather unpredictable. I didn't know what was coming moment to moment and the end was a genuine surprise. I thought, at times, the movie was going to go in completely different directions. So the fact that the movie pulls off the "twist and turn" aspect is good and these twists are actually rather original as well.And the performances were good particularly Witherspoon. The shadowy imagery fit well and for film noir purists this isn't a bad choice. It sure keeps one's interest despite, at times being a little draggy.But overall it still lacks the impact of the above mentioned movies. And the twists, while original, aren't really all that fascinating particularly the last one which lacks believability. The ending makes the movie almost a romance but for some reason it kind of fits.All in all this is a movie I'm ambivalent about. I would not recommend it as a must see but it's not bad either and is somewhat absorbing. I'd say it's around a 6.5 of 10 and is neither bad nor excellent. It maybe good to view as a late night and as long as one's not expecting a perfect 10 , this can make an interesting movie choice.