Des belles, des balles et des brutes

I have to admit that when I sat down to watch "Guns, Girls, and Gambling", I wasn't expecting that much. I thought the title sounded lame (and I still feel that way.) And there was the fact that Christian Slater was in the movie, an actor who has churned out one lame direct-to-DVD movie after another for some years now. But to my surprise, I really enjoyed this movie. The script is very clever, slowly unpeeling one layer at a time, and careful enough to leave some surprises right at the very end. The screenplay is also very funny at times - there were a number of moments when I laughed out loud, something I seldom do when watching a movie. The movie is also very well made on a low budget - I watched the movie on Blu- ray, and it looked very slick and colorful. And Christian Slater is actually pretty good in the movie's central role. But most of the credit for the movie's success is due to writer/director Michael Winnick. I look forward to his next movie.

First of all, I must admit that my expectations to this movie was not at the higher end of the scale. However, it turned out that director and director Michael Winnick managed to pull off quite a surprisingly nice movie, and an entertaining movie at that too.

I was initially interested in watching the movie because of the cast, which included Gary Oldman, although in a minor role only, unfortunately. But it also had Christian Slater in the lead role, and he actually carried his weight quite nicely.

The storyline was quite interesting, as it was fast paced, had a really solid script, and the storyline was really unpredictable. And most of the times, the twists and turns that the story took just makes you go "what just happened?" And it worked out so well in favor for the movie.

Writer Michael Winnick has also managed to create some very good, witty and interesting dialogue for the characters in the movie. And that really helped the movie to stay fresh and interesting, if that is an appropriate term for such. Lots of great chatter and banter back and forth between the various characters.

And then, of course, there was the acting. As I stated earlier on, they had a great cast ensemble whom did really good jobs with their given roles and characters. And this was true from both the lead and supporting cast.

"Guns, Girls and Gambling" was a genuinely entertaining movie that really turned out to be a nice surprise. If you haven't already seen the movie, then I can warmly recommend that you take the time to sit down to do so.

While there is a pervasive sense of fun with tongue firmly in cheek, this movie is ultimately too derivative to be that memorable. Most of all, it's just lazy. Most of the characters, if you can really call them that, don't even have names. The writer(s) also must have thought they were being really clever by having movie clichés and racial stereotypes blatantly pointed out, yet they use them like they were going out of style (see what I did there...). The bare thread of a plot is about a bunch of people who are after a priceless Apache/Hopi warrior mask that was stolen from an Indian/Native American casino. Some of those colorful caricatures include four different Elvis impersonators, a rancher, a cowboy, a college student, two sheriffs a lesbian prostitute and a blonde assassin who wears black and has a penchant for quoting Edgar Allan Poe. And that, my friends, is as far as the character development goes. What's worse is that the movie is clearly trying to ape Tarantino and Rodriguez, but it does it really badly. Still there are a few moments you'll laugh at, and the movie is mercifully short. It also has a pretty good soundtrack. Overall, if you're looking for some time to kill it's not too bad. Just don't go in expecting a good movie.

Wrote a review on another site, More in reply to this supposed professional critic/reviewer that completely panned the movie. He claimed the comedy was too predictable, why would Gary Oldman do the movie--I think he would've done it for what I think is his best line--watch it and don't miss it--since telling Clarence "Must not be white-boy day" in True Romance. The comedy was predictable on purpose and by design, I believe. Nothing deep,but funny and quite tongue in cheek.Helena Mattson,s character is worth the price of admission!Christian slater is doing an Elvis impersonation again a la 3000 Miles from Graceland. and is working with Oldman again and The big red Caddy convertible is back as the classiest Elvis impersonator get-away car ever. And after True Romance came to mind, I do believe it just might be that same classy Caddy that Bama & Clarence and all that Mafia coke, head west in to seek their fame and fortune. I love when they kinda tie movies in like that!!I watched GGG three times the 1st setting. don't miss it.

GGG is a nice little movie that keeps you entertained throughout. Michael Winnick manages to keep the cadence really steady, so if you like the first ten minutes you'll probably like the whole thing. This is actually a great accomplishment as too many movies starting with a similar vibe get goofy and boring after a while.

Plot- and character-wise Winnick uses many stereotypes, the ingredients of GGG are very familiar. But the overall result looks fresh and new, so there's nothing wrong with that.

The hypocritical prejudices against the use of stereotypes are a main source of GGG's humor. If you can't laugh about people with prejudices complaining about the different prejudices of others, you should skip this movie.

The two movies GGG really reminds me of are "Lucky Number Slevin" and "Snatch". Both have a rating of 8. That sounds a bit high for "a nice little movie", but GGG's current rating is 3.7 and that's just embarrassing. So 8 it is.