Pete Smalls Is Dead

I watched it because I'm a fan of Peter Dinklage's work. He was fine in this film. I loved the voice over storytelling. But I'm not a fan of Hollywood films about Hollywood. At least not fiction films about making films in Hollywood.

If this sounds convoluted, well yeah, it is and so is this film. I really can't fault any of the actors; I think for their part they were all believable in their roles. The story was just boring.

It's listed as a comedy that is dark, quirky and cynical. Well they certainly got the cynical part right but cynicism without humor is an exercise in tedium. I guess the quirky part is Steve Buscemi, another actor I enjoy, in a beige/blond curly clown wig looking like he'd been smoking 40 packs of cigarettes a day. Steve is usually great with the wry humor and quirky character portrayal; sadly, his character was pathetic. In fact all the characters were sad and pathetic.

I found myself skipping ahead every few minutes and then watching a few minutes and then skipping ahead. I didn't miss anything. You know it's like watching a soap opera every single day for three months and then missing the soap opera for a couple months; when you start watching again you realize Joan is still in the coma, Frank is still having the affair, and Cassandra is still making trouble for all of them.

This was 94 minutes of watching Peter Dinklage's character, KC Munk, trying to drum up 10k to get his much beloved dog back from the loan shark that took it to cover the debt. Munk spends the entire film riding on the back of a moped while his friend "Shemp" peddles him from place to place trying to either secure the 10k or get his stolen script back so he can sell it to get his 10k so he can get his dog back. I just couldn't care about the characters even though they spoke in soft and meaningful tones, it just didn't get me there.

I hated the story and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. For IMDb I always double whatever I rate on Netflix; so my IMDb rating is FOUR stars ~ PhaedraBlue 03/10/14 ~

You couldn't really call Pete Smalls noir, it's far too daylight for that, but certainly the story follows noir ideas. The beauty of the film is the succession of well known and highly capable actors all turning their roles into charm. It's a brilliant piece of casting. Peter Dinklage is the star and brings some of that cynicism he does so well in Game of Thrones to the fore in this as well. Mark Boone carries most of the acting burden and is perfect as the well-intentioned mate. You'll see Steve Buscemi and Lena Headey in utterly unfamiliar roles. Ritchie Coster as the bad guy plays a role that lovers of Happy! (2017) will find further admiration. Tim Roth plays a role he is far more suited to than the character he plays as the never-wrong Lie To Me guy or the tougher-than-everyone-else Tin Star guy. The most classic roles are those of Theresa Wayman as the quintessential French mystery woman, and Seymour Cassel as the Mexican grandfather figure. All enjoy a great script and many good original lines. It's a movie about friendship, and in that it succeeds with bells on.

With a cast like this that alone should make for a pretty interesting movie, but unfortunately that is not the case and it is a rather forgettable tale.

So forgettable in fact that I forgot I had already seen it a couple years back and didn't realise until when I (re)watched it today 30 minutes in when Steve Buscemi shows up in an awful blonde afro wig that I had indeed seen it before.

It's supposed to be a comedy, but it's just not particularly funny. And in the end when the "mystery" is solved (I say that lightly because it's pretty obvious and it's not a mystery movie as such) in retrospect the script is rather stupid as well.

I made sure to write a review and rate it this time around so I don't have the misfortune of possibly watching it again in a couple of years when I very possibly would have forgotten about it all over again.

A very weak 4/10 from me, it would have been less if not for Peter Dinklage and Theresa Wayman.

This is one of those films you hope that YOU will be the discover of. The quirky oddity you will recommend heartily to friends. Great cast. Great characters. Some pretty funny dialog. Plot... not so much. A little too convoluted.. just a bit, though. Peter Dinklage is always great. The entire cast is great. The female love interest, new to me, is really the female equivalent of what I wanted this movie to be; my secret discovery. She's lovely.The character actor, I recognize but can't name, who plays Buscemi's buddy was particularly good.

It's one of those films that could have been better but, not being an expert, I am not sure what it needs. I liked it though.

I knew practically nothing about "Pete Smalls Is Dead" when I started watching it, which made it even more of a treat. Peter Dinklage plays a man who goes to LA to attend the funeral of a deceased friend...but discovers that there's more to his friend than just the death.

After watching the movie for a few minutes, I got the feeling that it could easily be a Coen Brothers movie (although it has a different director). The quirky characters and presence of Steve Buscemi -- wearing a curly blond wig! -- give it that feeling.

"PSID" isn't any kind of great movie, but it's certainly worth seeing. Pretty fun. Also starring Mark Boone Junior, Rosie Perez, Lena Headey and Michael Lerner.