Matrixston
Wow! Such a good movie.
Breakinger
A Brilliant Conflict
Peereddi
I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.
Billy Ollie
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
vchimpanzee
Vic is on a plane from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. Aware that someone is waiting at the Los Angeles airport who will find that she has a lot of money and likely arrest her, she plants the money on Raj, a resident of India who is visiting his nephew Andy, a taxi driver.De Salvo and his partner Quinn are supposed to pick up the money. One problem: Andy lives in Apartment 6, and Thomas Thomas is unfortunate enough to live in Apartment 9 of the same building. The number on his door is loose.Andy's dog Socrates, who likes to steal, finds the bag with the money and hides it. When everyone realizes what is going on, naive and moral Raj believes they should do the right thing, but Andy and his friends disagree.Detective Cody, who is investigating Vic's case, has been on the force for many years, but budget cuts may mean he gets laid off. Meanwhile, Iva Doll is putting the pressure on Vic, who in turn demands results from De Salvo and Quinn.Joe Mantegna was outstanding. This is the type of role he does best. Bad, but still likable and somewhat ignorant. And he was quite good when he was supposedly drunk (not really drunk, but I won't say just what happened) . Mercedes Ruehl was quite good, overly confident and smug at times, and very angry at other times. She reminded me of Glenn Close in '101 Dalmatians'. Like Mantegna, she also did a great drunk--but she wasn't drunk either. Chaim Girafi was subdued but delivered quality. Whoopi Goldberg had a brief but effective performance as a dogcatcher who took in strays. And Ricky Dean Logan was quite funny as an incompetent employee at the morgue.Although this film was quite funny, it had a dark side and an amazing distinction I can't reveal.This was a lot of fun if you don't mind it being somewhat demented.
EasilyBemused
For those of you hesitant to rent this movie based on the box description, several points may change your mind. The dog in this movie doesn't talk, and isn't CGI. Whoopi Goldberg has relatively little screen time, perhaps about fifteen minutes total. The guy from 'Office Space' with the grudge against the copier, Ajay Naidu, plays a major role. This is a dark comedy, more then a crime drama. A brief scene involving dog fighting is one of the lesser reasons why this is =not= a family film. Despite the violence, it actually contains less gore then crime dramas such as 'Bound', and it's implied rather then shown. The characters appear at first to be clichéd roles a retiring police officer, a foreign taxi driver, a hit man with a conscience, an apparently homosexual neighbor but they end up not conforming to their Hollywood templates. The movie contains a refreshing mix of amusing situations, ironic humor, and slapstick comedy, and isn't dragged down by it's fifteen minutes of the 'warm fuzzies' type of comedy associated with Whoopi Goldberg's movies. Several things drag this movie down from a 10 for me. It's lacking polish in places, and some of the shots could be framed better. It 'feels' low budget. The ending, in it's twisting, is a bit too choppy and needs a few more threads tying it into the rest of movie. If you're a fan of Todd Solondz's movies, don't be mislead by the box on this movie - Definitely worth renting.
bbbl67
This movie started out so good too. Then all of a sudden everyone bares fangs and starts double-crossing and killing each other at the end! Yes, to be a good, clever ironic movie, you need to have some double-crossing. But the writer must've gotten lazy, and switched off the "good" and "clever" part, and just had everyone become a monster.Couldn't they have shown all of those apartment complex neighbors outwitting the bad guys and getting to keep the money in the end? Possibly even doing something to get revenge for the accidental murders of their two apartment mates at the beginning? Why does the dog-catcher get all of the money? She only showed up in the middle very briefly. Yes, sorry, I gave away the ending ... don't worry about it, you're not likely going to watch it all of the way till the end of this movie anyway.
George Parker
"More Dogs Than Bones" is a comedy about some crooked cash which gets so doggone lost that no one can find it. Supposed to be a comedy, this dog stumbles clumsily along with a monotonous storyline punctuated with some comic relief which is so bad the only relief is when the film ends. How so many good actors could end up in such an awful film is beyond all reason. Pass on this puppy. (D+)