Knockaround Guys

Loved this movie! It's the type of movie you'd want to see more than once; so much of the humor is so subtle that it's easily missed. Deals w/ the next generation of baby mobsters, & how much has changed since "back in the day". Performances by Pepper, Davoli & Green have a surprising depth; their characters are so immediately recognizable that it's almost scary. As a strong Diesel fan, I have no complaints at all about the Taylor Reese character. Diesel's moody acceptance of his position in life & his lack of options, is gloomy, but believable. The strong point of the film is the loyalty & love the characters have for each other. It gives a true nobility to characters who mainly live outside the law.

See it twice. No, three times!

rating: 8 out of 10 (Okay, I really mean 9!)

Knockaround Guys was a great movie. I went with a group of girlfriends expecting to drool over the handsome eye-candy, but I was amazed at how I paid more attention to the storyline than I did at the physical attributes of the cast...and as a female attending a mob-movie--that's not an easy task (at least, to some people!)

Did anyone really expect it to be some great epic movie? Seriously, the storyline was different, the actors were believable, and considering this movie was released over a year later than expected, it was awesome to see such a great cast put together. Barry Pepper carried this movie so well, and he did an absolutely fabulous job playing Matty. I am looking forward to his upcoming roles. Pre-XXX Vin D was perfectly suited for the role, and his performance, I think, was excellent. The movie wasn't about flashing big muscles as everyone keeps pointing out. Yes, it had something to do with the role, but it wasn't highlighted in a 'gratuitous' fashion like those pretty-faced female Bond-girls.

I really enjoyed this movie...but it's not going to change your life. It wasn't meant to. This film was an interesting twist from the usual mob-movies we've seen in the past. I highly recommend it.

Almost all of my recent reviews have been very negative, but this movie is worth watching if you are a Vin Diesel fan.

Summary: Matty is the son of Benny, a mobster and he is as bad as they come. As a kid he is put to the test of killing someone, but fails, therefore his father keeps him away from the life of a mobster, but now as a grown up, Matty can't get a job anywhere due to his father's reputation, which gets on his last nerve. So he decides to talk to his father about letting him work for him. Benny puts him on a task, to collect some money in a bag and to come back with it. Doesn't sound so difficult. Matty meets up with his childhood friends, Scarpa, also a son of a gangster, but trying hard to concentrate on his restaurant, his cousin Marbles who has always been the screw up and Taylor, the guy that everyone brings in when they need to scare the heck out of someone. So Marbles has a plane, he gets the money, but in Montana he lands for gas, only there are 2 hillbilly cops there, that intimidate Marbles, as he feels they are on to him and during his panic he puts down the bag of money with other luggage that is being put on another plane. Only he is too late to retrieve the bag so he calls upon his friends to help find the missing bag, which didn't make it to the other plane...so who took the bag?

Seth Green plays the messed up Marbles, who wants responsibility, but doesn't know the meaning of the word. Vin Diesel was great in this movie as a tough guy Taylor, he played his part perfectly. John Malkovich was the ruthless right hand of Benny and he was great! As for the roles of Matty and Scarpa, they were ok. The plot was a little weak, but got better after the first 20 minutes or so.

I rate this movie 7/10.

This is another of those films I thought was great the first time, so-so on the second. Overall, it got high marks - at least on the first viewing - because it's an entertaining film that doesn't overstay its welcome at 92 minutes.

Four young guys get involved in their first Mafia-type adventure. One is asked to do a simple job of picking up a bag of money out west and bringing it back home to Brooklyn. However, troubles ensue big-time when the bag is stolen at the little airport out West. His three friends have to come out and help him get the money back and all kinds of problems develop.

There is some black humor in here which helps spice up the film, which then turns very serious about halfway through with a few shocking twists near the end.

There are two famous veteran actors in here - Dennis Hopper and John Malkovich - and four young ones who becoming better known these days as well: Seth Green, Vin Diesel, Barry Pepper and Andrew Davoli.

The only problem I had with the movie is Pepper, who played Roger Maris, the famous baseball player in the film '61." He looks so much like Maris that I can't believe him as anyone else! To us baseball fans, Pepper will always be Maris and nobody else.

You can feel about two ways when you're watching this movie. Either you make yourself very angry about all the stuff this film steals shameless from other classics in the genre...or you can just sit back and enjoy and don't bother about all the rip-off elements. When I saw it, I was in a 'sit back and enjoy'-mood so my thoughts on this are rather positive. This film is well made and contains all the elements you expect. Like I said, some things are stolen obviously ( the execution GoodFellas-style, the True Romance shoot-out at the end...) but there are at least as much good things to tell about it as well. This film may count on a class A cast. Especially the older generation is great. John Malkovich, even when this guy is acting half as good as he usually does ( like in this movie ) he is still very entertaining. And naturally, Dennis Hopper and Tom Noonan are good as always. There's also a lot of talent in the younger generation: Barry Pepper, Seth Green. And this is even Vin Diesels best film ( besides Saving Private Ryan, but I'm not counting that one) Vin doesn't have too much lines, so that's positive. Overall, this film will be forgotten soon, but it's enjoyable while it lasts