Hadrina
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
filippaberry84
I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Rio Hayward
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Orla Zuniga
It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review
8ung
I'd classify it as a Drama and nothing more. The story is a drama, the acting is a drama, the script is a drama, ...The worst thing is that the scenes do not fit together. The characters act upon knowledge they cannot possibly have acquired or just plainly cannot have. If you take away reason then everything seems arbitrary.Someone here compared it to the Three Amigos. The only thing in common is that there are three guys and *nothing* else!And the end? One of the worst ever! A failed statement of "Everything is fine, everybody is happy". Spoiler warning: In the end a useless arm is whole again and even someone shot dead miraculously stands up, walks around and smiles.
merklekranz
Dumb is as dumb does, in this thoroughly uninteresting, supposed black comedy. Essentially what starts out as Chris Klein trying to maintain a low profile, eventually morphs into an uninspired version of "The Three Amigos", only without any laughs. In order for black comedy to work, it must be outrageous, which "Play Dead" is not. In order for black comedy to work, it cannot be mean spirited, which "Play Dead" is. What "Play Dead" really is, is a town full of nut jobs. Fred Dunst does however do a pretty fair imitation of Billy Bob Thornton's character from "A Simple Plan", while Jake Busey does a pretty fair imitation of, well, Jake Busey. - MERK
dbborroughs
Once big action star who fell off the face of the earth ends up in a small town with a problem with drug dealers and a dead body of a federal agent. Reuniting with some former co-stars to clean up the town.Low key, often to the point of blandness, "action" comedy mostly just doesn't work. Part of the problem is the casting Chris Klien as a former action hero. he's not bad, but he's really not believable as some one who was taken to be a tough guy. As I said he's not bad, he's just just miscast for what his back story is. The real problem here is the combination of the script, which really isn't funny and seems artificial at times, and the direction which is pedestrian to the port of dullness. There is no life in the way things are set up. Its as if the director had a list of shots and went by that list. It makes for an un-engaging film. And yet the film occasionally springs to life, such as the in the final show down that ends the film. That sequence works, but because the earlier parts of the film floundered its drained of much of its power.I can't really recommend the film. Its worth a shot if you're a fan of the actors or are a huge fan of independent cinema in all its forms, but otherwise this is just a disappointment.
Heislegend
If you're like me, the mix of Chris Klein, Jake Busey, and Fred Durst doesn't exactly spell success. As such, I popped this movie in with few expectations. What I got was a bit of a pleasant surprise, but not much of one. That being said, after I saw the laugh-out-loud awful performance of Chris Klein in Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun Li, I had pretty much counted him out for good. So I suppose it's always good to see someone get back up and at least dust themselves off.The premise of the film is pretty basic. A washed up TV actor (Klein) falls on a streak of bad (really bad) luck and gets stranded in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Problem is that the town is basically run by a small group of guys running drugs, so it's up to Klein and his old TV show buddies to save the day. That's all fine and good, but it's basically the same plot from Three Amigos and, let's face it, there's little chance anyone will ever do a movie similar to that and do it better. But, with that in mind, it's not too bad. Fred Durst does a good job as the (perhaps appropriately cast) idiot and everyone seems like a total doofus with the exception of Klein and the main antagonist. There really isn't a whole lot of action here so I'm not sure why that's listed as the primary genre, and the comedy isn't so much laugh-out-loud as it is the kind that will give you a chuckle and make you say "What the...?".All in all it's not bad...I certainly don't think it deserves it's current 2.9 rating. It's not great but you've seen far worse. But then again that's just me. I'd say it's not a bad way to waste an hour and a half.