Bienvenue à Collinwood

It takes my breath away to see some of the uptight and/or pretentious "reviews" of this very funny film that are on this site. "No character depth"? "Weak plot"? Is there a class these people take, called "THE POINT, AND HOW TO MISS IT"??? It's just a well-shot, well-written, well-acted slapstick heist film, for goodness sake - and the characters are SUPPOSED to be shallow idiots! It tells you that on the video cover! Were the characters in "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" deeply developed? And was that not a GREAT film, or did I miss something? I strongly suggest that anyone who is simply after a good laugh should watch this film, and that those who seek high art in everything they see should either learn to relax a bit, or spare the rest of us their tedious opinions! Sheesh...

This movie was recommended to me by a friend. I never saw an ad or a trailer, so I didn't know Clooney was in it and was not bothered by the fact that his role was so small. I thought the whole cast was suitable, and found the film pretty enjoyable, all in all. The opening scene, with the small crew of bandits standing at the side of the road, looking whipped and haggard, caught my attention immediately. It had a way of telling you, "don't go away; this won't be boring", and it really wasn't. It turned out to be an interesting, light-hearted comedy with enough twists and turns to keep you in your seat to the very end, but when the ending did arrive, I felt a little bit cheated....just a little bit. The events kept building up so that you expect them to continue building, but at a point that I can't define, it sort of levels out, making the ending a slight disappointment. I reckon I expected a bigger bang of a climax, but it turned out sort of low-key. If you watch the movie with that in mind and you can live without high dosages of George Clooney, you should find this flick very entertaining and well worth watching. Now I'd like to see the original (Big Deal on Madonna Street), but it's probably a rare find in the United States.

Cosimo (Luis Guzman) ends up in prison for car burglary and there he's given the plan for the perfect heist from a lifer in prison; so he has to get out of jail, fast. He tells his girlfriend Rosalind (Patricia Clarkson) to find a man who will do his time in prison for some money. But no one wants to do the time for Cosimo's crime and yet everybody seems to know a guy who will do that. Soon bad boxer Pero Mahalovic (Sam Rockwell) founds out the details of this so called "perfect job".

First of all, I think this movie was very funny and from my point of view I would recommend it to everyone. This movie is remake of Italian comedy "I Soliti Ignoti". I didn't watch the Italian original so I cannot judge or compare those two movies. But "Welcome to Collinwood" is great comedy for itself, about four people trying to rob the money from the vault in one house. Everyone gave their part of brilliance from this movie cast. Really excellent movie for these actors: Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy (great), Isaiah Washington, Michael Jeter (great), Luis Guzmán, Patricia Clarkson, Jennifer Esposito and finally George Clooney gave their share in this project.

Maybe to say that this movie is only comedy, isn't fair. This is more then that. Because of one difference. All of thieves in this movie have very small wishes when they are asked: what will they do with their money? It is mostly securing their future in very humble way. This fact goes beyond comedy into the soul of that criminals. And not only them but also cop Babitch, who is presented like corrupted one; so here directors Russo presents us fact that criminals and cop are the same. Actually all in Collinwood are; and not only in Collinwood, cause all people chase money, on legal or illegal way. I don't like all movies were audience eventually likes and cheers for thieves. But, this one is exception. You have to love them all. Riley with his little baby and wife in jail. Toto with his pants. Cosimo with his line: "Your mother's a whore!" and all others. They are just like characters in my favorite comic, Alan Ford. They all trying to make some money, but simply they are out of luck. But they all did one good deed: they gave money to Riley, so he can get his wife out of prison. They are all heroes in my eyes, cause lots of "honest" people wouldn't do that.

It's shameful that egotistic, pretentious film geeks need to rip apart remakes claiming that they can't possibly live up to the foreign originals upon which they are based. Foreign movies never translate and those that believe they are fantastic are likely only convincing themselves that is true. That said, I had no idea "Collinwood" was a remake and, regardless, thought it was surprisingly funny, well acted (the cast was phenomenal led by Sam Rockwell's perfectly funny lead) and just a good watch. Was is high handed film noir? No. Should it have won an award? No. Was is an enjoyable hour and change. Absolutely. Clooney, as always, was great in a limited, albeit offbeat role. Macy was fantastic. Michael Jeter was a tour de force as the old dude with the dirty shorts. And Luis Guzman was absolutely hysterical. It's a good watch regardless of what the pompous elite film police think. Check it out.

This is one of those few great films that comes out these days. I work at a movie theater, and every week I see countless pieces of crap, and so it's great to see a good one come along every once in a while. The film is about a bunch of broke small-time criminals who hear of a job that could make them rich beyond their dreams. The film follows the obstacles they have to overcome, such as how to get in, crack the safe, etc. George Clooney plays a very funny small part as a handicapped ex-criminal, who tries to show the guys the ropes. Other good actors are Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy and Luis Guzman. (Luis Guzman must have a fantastic agent, he's always in these great movies.) I've never heard of these Russo guys before this movie, but I look forward to their future projects!