dont_bug_lucie

After viewing this movie, I felt I had wasted my time and rental fee. Terrible to say as the cast is capable of so much more than the script gave them.

Ed Burns' directing was better than average. It's a shame he had an incomplete script - that he wrote himself. Perhaps, help from other writers could have saved the script. The basic plot was good but there were too many holes and some of the characters did things that made them look stupid.

And nearly everyone uses the 'F' word to excess. In one scene, that word is most of the dialogue.

I did like the cinematography. The slightly sepia tone helped to make the story feel that it happened some time ago. The camera angles and editing were engaging as well.

The casting of Elijah Wood as Sean Sullivan did not feel right for the character. Elijah looks too young (even though he was playing someone his own age). His character was also too naive to be someone that grew up in a crime family. Ed Burns' casting of himself in the lead role was actually okay. But he was limited by his own script. And Oliver Platt's talent was completely wasted here. While I was unfamiliar with the rest of the supporting cast, they did a fair job in their roles.

If you want to see a movie about less than intelligent criminals, by all means, see this movie. But find someone that was gullible enough to buy it so you don't have to pay to see it.

After viewing this movie, I felt I had wasted my time and rental fee. Terrible to say as the cast is capable of so much more than the script gave them.

Ed Burns' directing was better than average. It's a shame he had an incomplete script - that he wrote himself. Perhaps, help from other writers could have saved the script. The basic plot was good but there were too many holes and some of the characters did things that made them look stupid.

And nearly everyone uses the 'F' word to excess. In one scene, that word is most of the dialogue.

I did like the cinematography. The slightly sepia tone helped to make the story feel that it happened some time ago. The camera angles and editing were engaging as well.

The casting of Elijah Wood as Sean Sullivan did not feel right for the character. Elijah looks too young (even though he was playing someone his own age). His character was also too naive to be someone that grew up in a crime family. Ed Burns' casting of himself in the lead role was actually okay. But he was limited by his own script. And Oliver Platt's talent was completely wasted here. While I was unfamiliar with the rest of the supporting cast, they did a fair job in their roles.

If you want to see a movie about less than intelligent criminals, by all means, see this movie. But find someone that was gullible enough to buy it so you don't have to pay to see it.

Finding any work with Billy Boyd here in the US is tough so finding something where Billy is credited as 'loan shark' told me he wouldn't be in it much - and he was only in two scenes. However, the story itself was absorbing, though slow or repetitive in a couple of places. There was a good amount of tension building to keep me interested. While I am not familiar with who's who in the Scottish acting world, I thought there were strong performances by Heather Ann Foster, Stephanie Buttle and Nicola Stapleton, as well as a fair turn for Jason Connery. I was quite astonished by Billy's foul mouthed character - a loan shark that has a stutter that comes out when he particularly angry. I thought he played the part well. He certainly startled me with his performance - so much anger.

Generally, I don't go in for these kind of movies and it was curiosity of Billy's previous work that got my attention. But it was the story that kept me watching.