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All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review
Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead
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 out of 4
| *Also starring: | William Forsythe, Bill Nunn, Treat Williams, Jack Warden, Steve Buscemi, Fairuza Balk, Gabrielle Anwar, Christopher Walken, Bill Cobbs, Marshall Bell, Don Cheadle |
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Review by Dragan Antulov
1½ stars out of 4
One year after PULP FICTION the public and the critics were so
hungry of Tarantino's films that they were attributing Tarantinoesque
qualities to movies that had little to do with 1990s movie guru. That
is the best explanation for high standing of THINGS TO DO IN
DENVER WHEN YOU'RE DEAD, 1995 black comedy directed by
Gary Fleder.
Protagonist of the film is Jimmy Saint (played by Andy Garcia),
former gangster who runs "Afterlife Advice", service that videotapes
terminally ill people giving advice to their survivors. The business
was slow lately and Jimmy is in desperate need for cash. The solution
comes in the form of The Man With Plan (played by Christopher
Walken), sinister quadriplegic crime lord that offers financial
assistance in exchange for one favour. Crime lord's son Bernard
(played by Michael Nicolosi) has been acting strangely since the
break-up with his girlfriend, so Jimmy must re-unite the couple by
roughing up girl's current boyfriend. Jimmy gathers group of his old
associates for the job, but the plan ends disastrously wrong. Jimmy
and his men now must await crime lord's wrath that comes in the
form of Mister Shhh (played by Steve Buscemi), deadly assassin.
The only things that this film has in common with PULP FICTION
are botched crime as the element of plot and two cast members
(Buscemi and Walken). Actually, any kind of comparison between
Tarantino's and Fleder's film is going be disastrous for the latter.
Scott Rosenberg's script is unfocused and desperately tries to be "hip"
(characters using their own, incomprehensible jargon, in order to
sound "cool" is just one of the examples). This film's comedy
credentials are also questionable - for the most part this film is not
particularly funny. Fleder doesn't help with slow pace and allows too
much scenes that belong to sentimental drama rather than comedy.
But the biggest problem of the film is the fact that the audience can't
accept characters as believable human beings. Jimmy the Saint is the
best example - he is played by Andy Garcia and acts with such
Samaritan zeal that it is easier to imagine him trying to block Israeli
bulldozers at West Bank with his body than touching any of this
movie's criminal elements with ten foot pole. Many great acting
talents are wasted, most notably Treat Williams in the role of
psychopathic Critical Bill, impressive character whose brief
appearance is one of few reasons why THINGS TO DO IN DENVER
WHEN YOU'RE DEAD is not complete waste of time. All those who
expect anything resembling Tarantino's films are going to be utterly
disappointed, though.
Copyright © 2003 Dragan Antulov
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