Luck of the Draw

Jack Sweeny is a young man just trying to get a job. Turned down at another bank due to his criminal record he meets a girl, Rebecca, but also witnesses a 3 way shootout between 2 groups of criminals and the cops over a suitcase containing perfect plates for counterfeiting bank notes. Jack grabs the plates and attempts to sell them via his friend Zippo. However with at least three different groups ready to kill him for the plates, Jack finds it's just one double cross after another.

In the pitch meeting it must have sounded great, being sold as a sort of Pulp Fiction with more action and more punch. With the cast it must have looked promising – not a-list actors but a good line up of faces (just like in Pulp Fiction!). However somewhere along the line it all went wrong. Someone forgot to tell the writers and the director that this was what was wanted. So instead of an interesting tale all intertwining together, we have a daft thriller where each connection made just serves to make it all feel more convoluted and silly. I don't mind some leaps of faith, but how many unlikely events are we meant to swallow?

This is made worse by the lack of fun and pace in the story. It just drags along with silly scenes providing no action or humour. Dennis Hopper shooting his own men is meant to be hilarious but it's just plain silly and a little sickening. As for the big shootouts at start and finish – they are directed with no flair and no excitement. Making the whole thing passable but certainly worth of it's UK DTV status.

The cast looks good – hence my setting of the video recorder for it. However most seem to be trying to play it for laughs (without success) further undermining the film. Marshall is weak in the lead, with so much in support surely a better name could have been sought for the lead? Hopper hams it up with no thought of character – in fact no-one actually produces a character I ever cared about. Roberts clearly thinks this is a spoof of some sort. Forsythe is about as mysterious as a brick and he signposts his character's twists like he was directing traffic. Madsen seems happy just to show up and make the QT connection by riding in his car playing music from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. Ice-T turns in another gangster role but he looks skinny and tired – is time catching up with him? And Patrick Kilpatrick! He looks cool and is always reliable as a heavy but does a laughable Irish accent (Belfast lad speaking!) and appears to be a terrorist of some sort (don't let the name fool you). Yet it took several goes for us to get his accent and his character is never explained even briefly – he literally just suddenly is involved in the plot!

Overall this is not as bad a mess as I have made it sound as it is clearly good enough for teenage boys who just wants boobs and bangs without character or plot – a Saturday night rental if ever there was one! However to imagine how it must have appeared to those making it and seeing what the dogs dinner it became is just plain sad. Avoid.

Luck Of The Draw is one of a zillion straight to DVD, second tier crime thrillers that aren't about all that much besides a gaggle of cops, criminals and whackos all chasing some elusive valuable property, in this case some counterfeit money printing plates. What makes this one stand out is its unbelievable cast if heavy hitting tough guy actors, all subtly sending up their own image with some wily antics and breezy, cheerfully violent fun. Twin Peak's James Marshall plays "", an ex con kid looking to go straight. But of course the movie has other plans for him and soon he's caught up in a heated collision course involving several unsavory characters. Volatile mafioso Gionti Ponti (Dennis Hopper on the ham train to scenery chewing city) lost the plates in a messy robbery/heist. Eric Roberts is a hoot as his enforcer Carlo, his dumbfounded reaction to being shot for the first time is priceless. Dogged federal agent Max Fenton (an amped up, excellent William Forsythe) has a shady agenda of his own. Ice T shows up with his usual laughable sneer as a grouchy boxer. ""'s only friend in this mess is a perpetually hungover Michael Madsen as Zippo, the archetypal S&M porn producer with a heart of gold. Patrick Kilpatrick wanders around in a turn of pure comedic gold as a calm, cool Irish contract killer who, after seeing the film like five times, I'm still not sure who works for. It all snowballs together into a mish- mash, Reservoir Dogs style confrontation, but but the journey getting there is half the fun with this one. You could get this cast together for a game of lawn bowling or a live read of an ikea instruction manual and it would still be a great time. Fun bit of trivia: Mickey Rourke was originally cast in Madsen's role, but walked off the set in a huff because (get this), the producers wouldn't let him hold his chihuahua during the filming of his scenes. Classic Mick. Anyway, this one's worth a gander, if you can wrangle up a copy from some obscure corner of the universe.

What can i say about this movie, but that Eric was great.The whole cast was great. It puts me in the mind of American Stary's and Pulp Fiction...It will keep you watching to the end just fine out who lives and who dies........

I took a gamble by renting this one DVD - it certainly had potential, with the good storyline and great actors (Madsen, Hopper).

After 15 minutes however, things really went downhill and it became obvious that this is a total Tarantino ripp-off. The story is very similar to True Romance and the music reminded me of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction - except that these weren't the original tracks from the 70s :)

It's really a b-grade ganster movie with none of the subtle filming or dialogue we get in Tarantino's movies.

4/10

This film truly had a great line up of actors, sadly that did not make up for the fact that this film is a big bomb. once again I watched this film purely for the actors involved, Michael Madsen, Eric Roberts, Dennis Hopper and so on, the only reason I finnished watching this film was because of those brilliant actors.

I hope to see those actors in many more movie's yet to came.

4 out of 10.