"Once you go down this road there ain't no coming back." Michael (Cain) is driving home when he sees the beautiful Sarah (Burson) hitchhiking. He stops to pick her up and his life is thrown into chaos. I have to start by saying that this is not an amazing movie at all. It's not even technically a good movie, but it is an entertaining movie. There have been a few movies recently (Take Me Home Tonight is the main example) that have tried to have the feel of a movie set in the 80's. Most come off as trying too hard. I don't know if this movie was trying or not but it definitely had the feel of a very cheesy low budget 80's movie. The effects were bad and even the plot seemed to be a throw back. If you judge the movie based on effects and acting this is terrible. If you judge it based on entertainment and watch-ability it's not that bad. There are much worse ways to spend 90 minutes of your life. Overall, not good at all, but it is entertaining. I give it a B-.
Add a Review
-
djderka26 December 2012Yeah, not too bad a B movie. Think of those 70's film shot on film, which have become classic, with worse direction.
I like the nice B movie plot, but the script tried to get a little Christopher Nolan on us. Trust Nolan to pull off time disjunction and such. This flick had way too many forward / backward time movements. And fading in and out all the time slowed the pacing to a crawl. Director should have tried innovative cutting, such as time cuts, object cuts, character cuts or content cuts to pass or change time.
Outside of the movie being too Nolanish for no apparent reason...who doesn't like a dual personality chick jerking several guys around on a string for her own gain. One hot, one plain Jane. You pick the one you hook up with, take out for a drink(s) and then back to your place or motel room. And of course and evening with Madsen,Burson,Jones, is entertaining. Burson could have befitted with more stylish wardrobe changes, tho.
I liked Joe Jones as the Irish mob guy. Kinda reminded me of Danny Greene and Kill the Irishman. (a movie I liked a lot, btw).
The plot is a little involved, but basically a dual personality chick, rips off a blonde hair fey bank guy, an ordinary lame Joe, and a mobster for a couple of hundred grand. The guys go after her to try and retrieve the money and maybe some retribution.
Dirty Little Trick was way to videoey, and sound had a video tinny quality. One of several problems in trying to make a real movie was, "let's shoot it on video, because it's cheap" mentality. Plus it had the sanitized Canadian movie feel in the staging of some scenes.
But when your stuck home with a 15" snow storm, like we just had here this evening of 12/26/12 in Indiana, it is not a bad flick and a fair B movie to watch. The special features section was worthless as the video makers probably did that in an hour.
Several weak scenes, but several strong ones averaged out to a evening better than the horrible cable alternatives, like Storage Wars, Kardashians, the commercial ridden AMC, SyFy ridiculous Ghost series, and the FX movie channel. -
They should have just called this movie "The Idiots Club"....Because every male in the story had an IQ at about an 85...Each...I mean it....Every single guy in this movie has got to be the stupidest characters ever created by a screen writer....
The main story and all its character's back stories sucked....Everything in this film felt rushed.....And left very little to the imagination....
On the other hand....The way the film was Edited was absolutely brilliant....Several different characters with their own back stories....All connected in some form or another to a mysterious young girl.....
The Editor really did a wonderful job putting this film together....It was like watching someone solve a Rubix-Cube before my very eyes....
This is the most well edited piece of crap I have ever seen....And that's all there is too it.... -
rightwingisevil27 January 2012Well, I just couldn't go on watching this horribly scripted B movie after 20 minutes. I just want to avoid the viewing situation or status going from bad to worse then to the worst when Michael Madsen started to show his face on the screen. There are several iconic representatives of really bad B movies, and M.M. is on the top of such list. Again, this movie started with a guy who's supposed to be a nice and decent guy picked up a mysterious skinny young woman in the middle of nowhere of the wild remote desert countryside, maybe in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, or what? Texas? Since the reasons and the possibilities of why and how these two characters would appear alone by himself or by herself in the middle of nowhere are usually the trademark of a badly scripted B movie, then you started to lose your patience. And then, the camera focused twice in macro on the kitchen knives so readily hinted something bad gonna happen, even the young female stranger asked the guy to use his apartment's shower and he ordered a pizza delivered to his residence while she's in the shower, then the guy gawked at her wet toweled body and swallowed....now, my friend, it's the time to bail out and reject the DVD before everything turned so stupid and so contrite like a bad B movie could always ruin your day or night when you tried so hard to get a peaceful home and couch warming time. This was where and when I bailed out as always. I could always leave the boring and absent-minded Michael Madsen in the DVD instead of on the monitor. Amen!
-
rawiri4230 April 2013Dirty Little Trick is a B grade movie. I don't even think the producers would argue with that. It was obviously made on the cheap and that's OK if you realise it up front. Just because a movie is made on the cheap doesn't mean it has to be crap!
Maybe I'm slow, but it took a while for me to realise that there were time shifts and, when I did, all the goof reports I was thinking of making suddenly weren't goofs at all. I think a big problem these days is that we are constantly bombarded with huge-budget movies by true- genius directors starring truly gifted actors so that anything that falls short of that gets criticised. But when you think about it, that criticism is sometimes a bit unfair. How may block-buster movies a year are released on average? Certainly not enough to entertain keen movie- goers sufficiently which means that in between the block-busters, we have the choice of watching TV soaps or a B-grade movie - and I know which I prefer (so long as it isn't C-grade!).
Having said all that, Dirty Little Trick could surely be criticised for numerous things if you are into criticism. But why should I get picky when I know what I'm getting anyway? So I won't. I doubt I need to actually because keen movie-watchers will not need me to tell them all the shortcomings. Instead, why don't we look for what's good? And what's the most important aspect of any movie? Surely it's the story. And the story of Dirty Little Trick isn't bad.
However, if you're one of those pain-in-the-butt perfectionists who spends most your time looking for continuity errors and less-than-star- quality-acting, don't watch this movie unless of course, you derive some sort of masochistic pleasure from looking for faults. But, if you are happy to spend an-hour-and-a-half being mildly entertained, then watch it. -
westsidepoetess17 February 2012I don't understand why all the negative reviews? This movie is exactly what it's supposed to be, a well made, well acted B-Movie!! It's 90 minutes of entertainment! Cain is as good as always, and Madsen does what he does well. The script is well written, the characters are realistic, perhaps not Academy Award time, but true to the story line. It held my interest,kept a steady pace, and had a good structure. Not every movie made is budgeted out at $100,000,000.00..but, with what they had to work with, it came out to be a fine little movie. I honestly liked it, and was completely entertained and felt that I got my monies worth. Matter of fact, I recommended it to my friends..so, the rest of you, get over yourself and enjoy!!
-
dburnett8318 February 2012Went to see this movie on a rainy day.
I was unexpectedly surprised.
The action and acting was fun and interesting and I enjoyed the whole experience.
If I had to criticize anything, it would be the directing. Otherwise, as a low budget movie, it really captured my attention.
I hope this movie makes it to video.
Dean Cain wasn't exactly at his peak, but he did a fairly good job.
Michael Madsen was his usual obnoxious self, but he managed to get through the movie without saying the f word 14 times.
As always, Madsen was fun! -
Jakefoerster21 June 2012This could have been a very good movie. I saw the script before the movie was made and it was an excellent screenplay. However, for some strange reason, they didn't follow the script and in spite of directing being atrocious, it was almost a great story but a mediocre film. The only thing worse than the directing was the editing. It was like they forgot to shoot scenes and then tried to make up for them by using voice-overs and gimmicks like that. And then came Michael Madsen talking crap about "wolf urine" which totally had nothing to do with the movie. I think he had one too many because that's the way it sounded. To give credit to writer-producer, Michael Gordon, they must have shot this on a micro-budget so I don't know how they did it but they made a pretty good film for the price of one scene in most other movies. So, why am I giving this a good rating? Because they took a chance and tried to make a low-budget movie even though there was practically no funding. So, for all the time and effort it took to make this film, they still deserve the recognition for going out there and trying. Maybe next time, guys!
-
babyhayhayrocks14 February 2012One of the better low budget films I have seen in the recent past. The acting was pretty well rounded and the story line was what the movie needed to make it shine from its low-budget foundations. I personally love movies based on real events, and this one makes it to my list of those that I love so much. For me, this movie was the perfect break from mainstream movies and really was a fun hour and a half. Cain especially finds a way to make these little movies like these shine bright, and contributed both to the value of the story line and to the value of the acting skill pool. While the industry is dwindling, I do not imagine seeing many more of these low-budgets in the future. If the industry ever truly dies I'll be able to look back at this and remember what it is like for everyday writers and actors to be able to put forth emotion and thoughts onto screen without high budget studios and higher tier production value. 250 Million dollar movies are NOT the only films worth viewing. I only wish to see more like this!
-
aaronia200008 February 2012This movie blew my mind.
It was directed well and Burson was PHENOMENAL. I don't see what all the hateful comments are complaining about. The movie was a real mystery that kept me and my wife on our toes the entire movie.
What wasn't to love? Cain was his best that I've ever seen, and Madsen's act was very believable. It would be lovely to see a sequel from this movie.
It is really rare to find an independent film this good, and next Sunday my buddy is coming over to see what the hype is about. Nice, a solid 9.5/10. -
lisa-nicole108 February 2012I saw this movie in on television and I thought this was a fun movie. I liked the fact that it was not your run-of-the mill low budget thriller. Okay, so it's not perfect but I read where the movie hardly cost anything to make and I think they did a great job with what they had. I was a reader for a studio and had the opportunity to read the original screenplay and the screenplay was much better than the film. I thought the worst part was the direction. Maybe if they had hired a decent director this film would have turned out a lot better. Why didn't they just film it the way it was written? But all in all, it was still fun to watch and if you don't take it too seriously then you won't be disappointed.
-
nogodnomasters23 April 2019Sarah (Christie Burson) is young, provocative, spontaneous, and unpredictable. She is every man's dream and nightmare rolled up into one. She captures our imagination from her very first scene as she is hitchhiking. She reminded me of Melanie Griffith in "Something Wild" only not as tame. The picture has a quirky Tarantino influence. I loved the black widow tattoo on Sarah's back. That added to much to her personality.
Sarah is not a nice person. She is all about money. The film shows us the present situation of Sarah with Michael (Dean Cain) then gives us flashbacks of her dirty little trick involving Danny (Joe Jones) who works for Vito (Michael Madsen). Characters who are introduced as seemingly minor, come back with importance and a connection. Excellent writing.
F-bomb, sex, no nudity.