The Highwayman

A plot that lets some excellent actors -- especially McHattie and the astounding Harris -- run wild. And, for good measure, you get Louis Gossett Jr.!! Priestly plays edgy very well. In fact, you'll have a hard time deciding whether this whole movie is funnier than it is edgy, or edgier than it is funny. The comedy is dark, but not off-puttingly so.

A jeweler, desperate to find her father sees the opportunity when "The Highway Men" rob her jewelry store. She tells them where the real goods are and chases them down to join their crew. Meanwhile her father is having a real bad day. he gets laid off, the rents 2 months due, his wife hates him. Now where do I get off bringing the great one into this made for TV drama, well because of its sporadic violence, everybody is violent in this film, and they kill a lot of cops. Then there's several different violent stories that keep overlapping and finally come together. The father attacks his boss, then gets in a knock-down drag out fight with a detective. He teams with the robbers to hunt down his boss. The fathers landlord is a mob boss who burns down houses in font of the firemen as they stand by to put it out. the girlfriends boyfriend is a whiny little sap, who she can't seem to lose. Jason Preistly screams all his dialog and it always ends telling the jeweler we're your family now, not your father.

For the life of me I can't figure out why anyone would make a movie like this. The plot is tired, the acting is strained, the language is consistently foul and at times the over use of the "F" word seemed like a lack of dialog was prevalent so 'let's throw in another couple of "F's" for good measure, that's what the American public wants to hear'. Gossett was particularly foul and seemed to enjoy his part. Forget this c__p, rent 'Shrek" and have a good laugh.

It's absurd that she is billed down in seventh or eighth place. She completely carries the film. She also has the most face time and is what stitches its various threads together. It's about her.

She simply lights up the screen and those around her with the joy of being with her. Considering the situations she gets herself into in this flick, that's something -- and fun.

You know it's a bad sign right off the bat when:

• characters jump on a city bus (which must be free, because nobody has to pay) and start smoking cig's. Where is this?

• these really cool bad guys who rob jewellery stores for a living say that money doesn't mean anything, and proceed to burn the money they just *robbed* from people. So why exactly do they bother??? And if money means nothing to them, why are they so obsessed and concerned with it? Who wrote this crap?

• you recognize people you've seen in canadian pizza pocket ad's

• the 'bad' guys actually look like people from pizza pocket ad's dressed up like bad guys, making stupid 'mean' faces.

• jason priestly is a bad guy

Not even worth listing the many reasons why this movie is so annoyingly bad. How do these things get made? It actually made me sad to see Lou Gosset in this c-grade project.

Luckily I saw this on TV, so it didn't cost a thing. But it did cost me time. Well, about an hour, until I finally couldn't take anymore. Save yourself both time and money.

Avoid.