Federal Protection

When we get a film that has the cliché of federal protection and the like we always wonder what interpertation will be given and even though you can see the cliché it holds a certain cool and simple story telling with the minor CHARACTERS MEYER AND LIPPER who outshine FEATHERSTONE AND ASSANTE. this has some of the funniest scenes and you are so rooting for the TALENTED DINA MEYER to out do the MOB that it becomes more interesting watching it. 3 a. GREAT SCENES meyer not liking her new fetish b. THE sarcastic killer who gets over emotional and pushed, also the look its SHANIA TWAIN gag c. social statement .THE mob using a Chinese hit-man in their ranks

"Federal Protection", a vanilla middle-of-the-road action/drama with the feel of tv direct production, tells of a swaggering chop shop racketeer (Assante) from Chicago who is ensconced in the federal witness protection program in the burbs of Little Rock, AR where he is too easily recognized by his neighbors one of whom he falls for while the others try to extort money from the mob for giving him up. Obvious, predictable, contrived, and generic with some bloody shootouts, almost no sex, no nudity, and very little chemistry, "FP" is strictly nominal no-brainer entertainment. Keep expectations low and enjoy.

It was a Fun cool movie. The Women were hot and sexy and dangerous. the man were mean and tough. the husband and sisters relationship was fantasy status. it was too dope. and any girl who had a bad bf had to have loved the swag of the housewife.

Come back from partying with a girl and watched this movie. eh, watched half of it, we didn't make it too the end. I'm buying this DVD now so i always have it randomly play at the golf club scene to keep pushing the mood along with company. ha ha. must see. great late night creeper move. mood setter. the scene on the park bench was too real. I recommend having this movie set in your DVD player ready to be played before you head out to any happy hour.

Although this movie was not particularily "meaty", I would have to say it was quite entertaining. Firstly, Armand Assante's performance as mafioso can never go wrong. His cocky, charismatic portrayal of an ex-mobster in the witness protection program is definitely alluring.

The redheaded neighbor recognizes and falls for him, you feel happy for her as she's in dead-end marriage, and the chemistry between her and Armand is apparent! (I kept thinking . . . if only that could happen to me).

Like I said, it's not filled with the extreme gritty substance of "Gotti", but it is fun and even has some Pulp-Fiction-like dark-comedic scenes -- that, and Armand's performance along with the sexual chemistry make this - I feel - a very worthwhile watch!

I agree with the above comments. The films made up in the Great White North are an accounting trick, caused by a) the dirt-cheap Canadian dollar, and the availabilty of subsidies -- though this may have changed recently, I'm not sure. For this, what happens is that a producer based in NY or Los Angeles takes a project written with some US locale in mind and either shoots Montreal as "New York" or "Paris". It is neither, though it is a beautiful city in its own right. This way of structuring the Deal puts story, local color, regional accents, all of that way down at the bottom of consideration, when it should be near the top. (That's why a movie -- Woody Allen's Manhattan is just an example -- can evoke a time and place better than any other art form, and why all these transplanted cheapies look like they're shot in Vinyl Palookaville.) Americans and Canadians both deserve a better cinema.