Knockaround guys follows Matty Demaret (Barry Pepper, Johnny Marbles (Seth Green), Taylor Reese (Vin Diesel) and Chris Scarpa (Andrew Davoli), four sons of major Brooklyn mobsters who team up to retrieve a bag of cash in a small Montana town ruled by a corrupt Sheriff. Specifically, the plot gets started when Matty goes on a job to deliver the money for his mob father, Benny "Chains" Demaret (Dennis Hopper), on the advice of his uncle Teddy Deserve (John Malkovich). Things don't go as planned though...
Special Agent Matti
Knockaround guys is pretty much the same as its subject matter: it tries hard but it doesn't quite make the grade. Sure, it's fun to watch a bunch of tryhards bumbling their way through a series of mishaps that would be funny if they weren't life-threatening, but nothing you see will be seen for the first time. Road to Perdition is a much stronger film about boys who don't live up (or down) to their fathers and has the added benefits of great cinematography and extra helpings of violence. Knockaround guys just meanders along as if everyone is on valium.
Also, I think David Levien and Brian Koppelman forgot to bring their cliché detector when they were writing the script. A boy who was traumatised in childhood and only wants his father to respect him, a crooked Sheriff in a country town, a Mexican stand-off, a double-crossing gangster... the list goes on. And on. Right down to the heroes riding off into the (metaphorical) sunset.
Wait until this one comes out on video.
MA 15+ (Medium level violence)
91 minutes (1:31 hours)
Film: 13 March 2003
DVD rental: 7 May 2003
VHS rental: 7 May 2003
