Trouble Is My Business

If you are looking for Bogie, this is not it. As many have said, the dialogue and the acting is not exactly Oscar material. Still, the performances are solid, occasionally funny, and follows the threads and form of a true Noir.

There are moments when you cannot help but smile at the dialog (or think to yourself - did the screenwriter ever read a Hammett, or Chandler, or heck even Spillane) and chuckle at the acting, but it does draw one into the story, which is sold. You might see some of it coming, and there are lots of clues, but a couple of the twists were well done indeed.

For not having a studio behind it, it is worth an afternoon watch when there is nothing else on TV. Could it be better? Sure, but it could be a lot worse and production quality is as good as any of the B-rolls they released during the classic noir period.

It's such a long time since I've seen such poor acting. What promised to be a Sin City (esque) thriller turned into a wooden, awkward embarrassment. It may have been great after 10 minutes but I'd rather poke pencils into my eyes than have to endure any more.

Don't listen to the trolls. There's plenty of fun to be had in this indie whodunnit. Equal parts Roger Corman, Columbo, and Raymond Chandler with all the fixings. Noir fans will have a good time. If you're looking for big budget slick production, then sure, it's a little scrappy. But I've seen movies with way bigger budgets be way less fun. There's a bit of camp and CGI sheen to the whole thing that actually gives it this dreamy, hypnotic tone. There's a nod and a wink quality to this whole film. The creators clearly know the tropes and enjoy playing with them. This is a loving, low budget homage to a forgotten genre that's actually a blast. Pour yourself a glass of non-wine like in the movie and have a good time.

The acting is terrible, but I would blame for that mainly the director skills. Well, a director has to do several stuff besides guidance of acting performance, and I think other work isn't that bad. The genre is more than clear and the art coherent, the mise-en-scene is sometimes too predictable (mainly the shots), and the dialogs are funny, not that overdone like the acting. This is a film where the people did a lot of things, the main actors wrote and produced, other staff is in secondary roles, so it seems like a heart-project. If you can live with overacting, it is a interesting homage to Film-Noir. PD1: Thinking about it, maybe the overacting (also overstatement of mise en scene with details like CloseUps, tear on cheek, etc) is on purpose, there is people who like it (Jim Carrey, overacts in most of the films, but he can also, as he has shown sometimes, act in another style). Well, in that case, it isn't lack of skills, it's just a style I don't enjoy.

PD2: Funny is also so much people taking negative comments personally, accusing of trolling, manipulation, and other conspiracies. 'common, everybody is free to have an own opinion, and everybody shall decide what to take from them.

Yeah, what a load of crap! Fooled me with a jargon of "Neo Noir". You don't have to be that stupid to use some saxophone soundtrack to tell people this film is a NOIR, NOIR, NOIR. The private eye does not have to be always in a jam, down and out in L.A. and couldn't afford the rent and got 30 days pay or out eviction notice.

Jesus, this film just looked so pathetically pretentious and ridiculous. More like adapted from a lousy comic book or a children's book. A horrible fantasy for the brain dead adults. Absurd screenplay, scenarios and plots. Nothing is right. A complete waste of time. Like watched a lousy poor staged play in a theater. Characters are all comic, over-the-top costumes and make up. A missing person case or several murder cases, who cares! Don't forget to pay your 2017 income tax and your property tax before the deadlines, they are more important than wasting your time and money to watch this stupid Neo Noir film.