A Morte de Pete Smalls

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.

This film was certainly not what I expected it to be. Luckily, it was much more than that.

I stumbled across the title while searching for a film with Peter Dinklage, whose style I really do enjoy. Here he plays a hapless laundromat owner, who needs to find ten thousand dollars to recover his near-blind dog from a loan shark who had him taken as collateral on unpaid debts.

This is what starts a dark comedy written with pacing, style and tropes taken from old film noirs. An original idea, that does deliver the goods. Helping the success are the characters, very human with their many flaws and thus also very practical comedy vehicles.

As the film ends, the style has been enjoyable, the cheerfulness despite of all the sad smudge has been constant, and the open-minded viewer will be happy that they spent their time on this unfortunately forgotten piece of film.

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.

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 movie has all the elements of an old Film Noir: a missing person (well, dog), a mysterious woman, a voice-over narration by the main character (nicely played by Peter Dinklage), and a slightly convoluted main plot. The message; whether it is in fact a deeper look at the machinations of Hollywood (and the good and the bad that goes with it) or not, is not as important as the overall atmosphere.

The bits that feel just too far out and too unrealistic are more than made up for by both the excellent cast and the road trip/generally trippy vibe that seems reminiscent of the Big Lebowski.

It's certainly not for everyone; bring some time and willingness to go with the flow. Then it's a gem of a movie that is well worth a watch -and a re-watch.