Metacritic reviews

2 Days in the Valley is a neatly folded piece of cinematic quirk.

Two Days in the Valley lacks the humanity of ''Short Cuts'' or the edgy hipness of ''Pulp Fiction,'' but it is still a sleek, amusingly nasty screen debut by a film maker whose television credits include an Amy Fisher docudrama.

It's fun to watch 2 Days in the Valley” in the moment, and then fun afterward to think about the way the story was put together, and all of those lives connected.

I enjoyed 2 Days in the Valley. It's pure entertainment – nothing too serious, nothing too deep – with an artistic sensibility. It's rare for movies these days to recognize that the audience might have an intelligence, and even more unusual for them not to talk down to those in the not-so-cheap seats. So, if you're looking for some smart fun, John Herzfeld's feature is a worthy choice. And you don't need two days – just two hours.

2 Days in the Valley is skillfully made. The beginning introduces a handful of disparate characters. It juggles their stories and then deftly starts bringing them together through some surprising and unexpected turns.

2 Days in the Valley will rank high on any list of films containing the greatest number of scenes in which people are threatened at gunpoint. Marked by a wearying amount of hostile and antisocial behavior by its criminal and civilian characters alike, writer-director John Herzfeld's debut outing features a measure of unexpected humor and some good character work by the ensemble cast.

It's not that this is a bad, blackly comic slice-of-lowlife: It's just that you've just seen it all before.

On the whole, there are some good moments in the movie, but altogether, 2 Days in the Valley is about one day too much.

Unfortunately shallow characterisation, a script so laid-back you can almost hear it snoring and the occasional outburst of hokey dialogue lead to a movie a good deal less charming than it thinks it is.

Writer-director John Herzfeld blends violence and top-heavy absurdism, creating a self-conscious muddle of indie-style hackery. Strip away the goofball nihilism, though, and what’s left is as formulaic as any straight-to-tape opus with a title like "Dangerous Instinct."