Shooting Gallery

Now its no citizen kane, but I was entertained. Good pool movie. Not too many great pool movies. Hustler, color of money, poolhall junkies, I am including this one too. Although not GREAT, its still a good watch. Guys in suits, tough talk, big stakes in the BIG easy, you know.. the good stuff. Only complaint was Freddy Prinze's accent OMG it was laughable. The other actors had it down, but watching Freddy trying to act tough was kinda funny, I had fun 6 stars!

it had potential.. the story had legs.. Ving is always good.. everyone loves him in BABY BOY.. what makes this movie almost like going to the dentist for a root canal is Freddie.. he is so wooden that every time Ving light up I'm worried that he will burst into flames. Apart from the lead actor I dug the film.. which is weird cause he is in it a lot.. everyone loves movies about hustles and money and shady people... but it is hard to care when you wish they would just cap the lead cause his acting is giving you a headache. This is where Hollywood casts a person because of what they are worth not for what they can do and therefore they end up with a tame lame straight to video film instead of a bad mofo of a movie.. Hollywood please commit to what you are doing.. if you are gonna make a bad guy movie cast people that we believe can be bad guys... what's next? Justin Timberlake as a thug?? Oh no, it is ..isn't it??

A pool hustler becomes a member of a pack of hustlers. He rises to the top, but soon finds himself the monkey in the middle of a match between his boss and a crooked cop.

Freddie Prinze Jr. seems to have a string of bad films lately, with such titles like Scooby Doo, Summer Catch and Scooby Doo 2. But one only has to look at his film credits to see that he hasn't been in a really good movie at all. His career ranges from teen slasher flicks to a poor excuse for a video game adaption. It seems with Shooting Gallery Freddie is trying to show that he's serious now, and that he's left his Scooby Doo image behind. Well, Freddie, I got a message for ya, keep dreaming'

When I first came across Shooting Gallery, Poolhall Junkies rip-off is what came to my mind, but for the sake of an argument, I gave it a chance. After watching it, I still came to the conclusion that it's a poolhall junkies ripoff and a poorly executed one too. The main character here tries to act as if he's cool and slick, but with Freddi Prinze Jr. as your main catch, he's comes off and nothing more then a pretty face who thinks he can shoot some pool. In the final stages of the film, I wanted to cut my ears off I couldn't stand his "broken nose" accent. Ving Rhames makes an appearance. All he does is walk around and chew on alligator feet. He actually does nothing in the film, until the climax when he shoots some pool and a gun.

In the film "Rounders" Norton has an ace tattooed on his arm, he says that he has an ace up his sleeve, it worked. In "Shooting Gallery" they get 8 balls tattooed on their arm, with Rhames on his bald head. It shows that their part of a gang...but it doesn't work. Rhames outfit is comical, you should see it to believe it. The plot is poorly written, and one of those, he was hustling everyone from the start type gigs, completely clichéd.

The pool shooting is quite good, not better then what is showcased in "Poolhall Junkies" but good nonetheless. Freddie actually shoots some pool here, nice to see that, but it's obvious that the trick shots are done by someone else. I liked the whole switching of the shooting sides that Freddie does near the end though, I thought that was a neat addition. "Poolhall Junkies" has Walken and "Shooting Gallery" has Macfadyen. Macfadyen is definitely the highlight here as the drunk, druggie, poolhall hustler. He brings some enthusiasm to an otherwise dead cast. It was nice to see some life pumped into this dead film, but it doesn't last long.

The poolhall lingo consists of what the director has heard and made up. Which is obvious when you listen to other lines such as "If I'm Lyin...I'm Dyin." Some characters names, if you'd like to hear are Paulie the Pawn and Cue Ball Carl. What's with the random words appearing on the screen? Poolhall lingo? Purpose to the script? It was distracting and adds nothing to the experience except confusion and dread.

Skip "Shooting Gallery" unless you want a headache from poor acting and a clichéd plot. "Poolhall Junkies" this is not. Unless you're a massive fan of pool, check out something else.

Giving it a 2 only because a few scenes are actually quite interestingly photographed. But otherwise this is pure, odious, drivel. Insulting that this guy Keoni Waxman actually expects people to sit all the way through this mess -- I sure didn't. Why is it so apparent that the writers of pool movies have never set foot in actual pool rooms? Why are we allowing these hacks to make movies? I saw the bad reviews on this one, and decided to rent it anyway because I love pool and I'm still waiting for a decent pool movie. (Poolhall Junkies is bad, sure, but at least it offered some laughs. It's worth the rental just to hear Christopher Walken say "Benz," and to see Rod Stieger overacting to the point of hilarity.) I'm begging you: don't make the same mistake I made. Skip this one entirely. Anything to dissuade Waxman from making another movie. Please!

Freddie prinz is Jericho, hot shot pool player. And playa he is. He joins Cue Ball's group (Rhames) to take the money the tourists were so ready to give them. He's supposed to hand over a percentage to Cue Ball every time. But he starts playing on his own. And doesn't hand it over. And an undercover bails him out. And wants something. If Jericho will set it up to give up Cue Ball, detective Mortenson ( Callum Rennie) will have his back. But the cop has his own weaknesses... who is scamming who in this match of matches? Written and directed by Keoni Waxman; had been making films for ten years by this time. This one is pretty good.