Who Is Cletis Tout?

* NO POSSIBLE SPOILERS .. *

I'll skip the plot outline part and go right ahead to the comments.

This movie reminded me a bit "The Usual Suspects". Not that the movie has the same plot or it tries to copy "The Usual Suspects", but it had a similar vibe - how the story unwraps itself and goes together. Not that the end was surprising or spectacular, but how smoothly everything is running.

The actors are all good. None of them disappoint or annoy. If you can manage to take them out from their usual roles i.e Portia de Rossi as an Sub-Zero Nell in Ally McBeal and Tim Allen as Santa Claus etc, then you might even have a pleasant surprise. Supporting cast is believable, even the bad guys.

This movie is not for people who love bloody action, laughing your head off or deep plots. It's an easy movie for an easy watching. When you feel that watching Anderson's "Magnolia" is will be too tiring or "Road Trip" just too stupid, then go for "Who is Cletis Tout?". The best way is to watch this movie without and special expectations or prejudices. This way you have nothing to disappoint in.

If you take this movie as just a movie then most likely you will like it. I think it is worth seeing and worth spending your 1,5 hours on it.

My rating: 7/10.

I almost avoided this flick because the title didn't do anything for me. That may have been what happened to it when it was in general release because it sank pretty quickly. A movie-buff friend of mine recommended it, so I put it on my Netflix list and finally popped it into the player.

Cletis Tout turned out to be great fun. I enjoyed the interwoven flashbacks and the comments made by Critical Jim (played by Tim Allen). Christian Slater plays a take-off on his usual slimy lying characters by playing a crook who tells the truth.

It helps to have seen some of the movies that Critical Jim riffs on as Finch's story unfolds, but that's not completely necessary. Pop a bottle of wine with a couple of friends some Friday night and enjoy this movie.

Not a bad film at all. Considering some of the rubbish that makes big money this was smart enough to keep me interested. Obviously the flashback driven structure is a bit predictable and cheesy, but I have seen way dumber films this year. I don't know about Tim Allen's casting though - it wasn't a disaster but it didn't quite do the business for me. Kudos to him for playing against type, but he was too warm for what is by definition a muderous criminal (I think Nicholas Cage or Robert Duvall might have nailed this part). Overall this could have been much worse,, ( imagine Ms. J Roberts as the love interest.) The plot was fine if a little contrived, and the constant movie references wore a bit thin presented as they were. Competent enough though, it a pity that it didn't have have a bit more je n'est ce quio. Still more challenging than the recent skywalker ranch product if you're in the video store

This is a movie that uses one of those "clever" dirty tricks that the writer ought to have avoided: It's analyzing itself so tightly that, according to its own analysis, it is necessarily a masterpiece. It's blowing its own trumpet. It's too self-aware. And the pity is that it doesn't need it. It starts out slow, but it's actually a very good story, which should have been allowed to run its course *au naturel*, without the over-analytical commentary by Critical Jim. This, for me, is the main reason why this movie fails to garner more than a 6 out of 10.

Another reason is, as I said, it starts out too slow. It takes too long to get into high gear. It has too little to engage the viewer. For half the movie, the only thing that makes you want to spend your time on it is Portia de Rossi's prettiness. To be a really good movie, it needed to have had a number of more attractive elements, be they pretty women or interesting plot turns.

I ran across this film last night when looking through the movie listings. I had never heard of it but after reading the description thought it worthy of a look, and plus I love Tim Allen.

I was pleasantly surprised by the film and would recommend it! Good cast, including Tim Allen whom I feel is underrated at best. Christian Slater was charming and Portia Di Rossi was adorable. Plus, it had a good story!

I could be more verbose on this topic, but I'd rather let you decide for yourself what you think of the film.