Matty Demaret (Barry Pepper) is the son of aging gangster Benny Chains (Dennis Hopper). Matty is a non-criminal who is desperate to join the family business. He begs his dad for a chance and Benny's second-in-command Teddy Deserve (John Malkovich) suggests a task. Matty calls upon his unreliable loser pilot friend Johnny Marbles (Seth Green) to transport a bag filled with money. Johnny promptly loses the money in a nowhere town in Montana. Matty and his three friends descend upon the town. Chris Scarpa (Andy Davoli) is Johnny's cousin and Taylor Reese (Vin Diesel) is a street fighter from the neighborhood. Sheriff Decker (Tom Noonan) has his eyes on the newcomers.
There is a bit of a false note with either the production or the actors. Eventually, I find the false note actually working for these four guys. They are after-all not gangsters. They are wannabes. The movie works better and better, but a couple of things still do annoy me. First, it's the writing. The writing is a bit inferior. The obvious move for the gangsters is to kidnap the Sheriff's son. These guys are not thinkers. Closely related to that is Malkovich. I don't like his choices for the character. He's more odd than threatening. I can't put my finger on it. The four friends are good although Matty would never let Johnny to do the task by himself. Tom Noonan is great. It's a mixed bag of money. This is a fine second-tier gangster movie.
There is a bit of a false note with either the production or the actors. Eventually, I find the false note actually working for these four guys. They are after-all not gangsters. They are wannabes. The movie works better and better, but a couple of things still do annoy me. First, it's the writing. The writing is a bit inferior. The obvious move for the gangsters is to kidnap the Sheriff's son. These guys are not thinkers. Closely related to that is Malkovich. I don't like his choices for the character. He's more odd than threatening. I can't put my finger on it. The four friends are good although Matty would never let Johnny to do the task by himself. Tom Noonan is great. It's a mixed bag of money. This is a fine second-tier gangster movie.