FrogGlace
In other words,this film is a surreal ride.
pointyfilippa
The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.
Patience Watson
One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.
Ariella Broughton
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
eric262003
"Knockaround Guys" meanders around the main plot of Matty Demaret (Barry Pepper) who is the offspring of a top notch crime boss Benny Chains (Dennis Hopper). Benny feels that his son just doesn't have the fortitude to fill in his father's legacy, brought on mostly from his uncle Teddy Deserve (John Malkovich). It's a common trend that mobster offspring's can't handle this line of work, so we should take this situation like a grain of salt, but Matty is still desperate in finding a job. The principal obstacle is not that he lacks credentials, but the main roadblock comes from his very own family who refrain him from finding work in other fields. So after much persuasion, Benny and Teddy finally give in and employ the young man in the field of transporting something and to avoid him from killing anybody.His mission is to transport cash from Spokane back to New York. The cash is if from another mob as some assurance to support Benny as he tries to repair some of the tribulations of his organization. One of Matty's best friends is a dim-witted pilot named Johnny Marbles (Seth Green) and Matty assigns him to fulfill the mission. However, on his way back to New York, Johnny has to stop at an airport for gas and avoid anyone from being suspicious, he foolishly ditches the loot. But when he gets back, the money is nowhere to be seen.Matty sends down his closest allies, Chris Scarpa (Andrew Davoli) and Taylor Reese (Vin Diesel) to join Johnny who has found out that the money is in some small hick town in Montana. Two caricatured skateboarder airline workers have got a hand on the cash and have gone on a bit of a spending spree with the cash. That is until the Sheriff Decker (Tom Noonan) who happens to be the father of one of the workers catches on and finds the hoards of cash and eventually issues a bounty to have Matty and his friends killed so that Decker and his deputy can split the cash for themselves.Matty's gang start using mobster methods in order to win back their cash, though Matty has to report everything back to his father. Fortunately, his uncle comes to the rescue. And the final result is that Matty and Teddy manage to make it in one piece and with the money. The twist in the end turns out that Teddy was the one responsible for stealing Benny's money.Okay so I gather this is a new and refreshing turn on the mobster movie genre in which mobster offspring's go on a mission in trying to get a hard lesson in what it is to be a mobster. But however there are still plenty of flaws that make this movie undesirable to say the least.The main flaw is that why the hell Benny would put his faith in trust in Matty's friend Johnny as he's a scrawny little recovering doper? This guy can't be trusted into doing the simplest tasks let alone transport cash from city to city. And since Benny is one of the most powerful men in New York, why didn't he use his resources and persuasion and find Matty a real job? Is that too hard to ask for? And then there's the whole debacle involving Uncle Teddy and his taking Benny's cash without his consent It seemed out because the twist did not come equipped without a reasonable angle to lead up to it. It was just too sudden. At first I thought Teddy was a decent individual, next thing you know he's stealing his brother's cash with no real motive at all. It was like it was padded on just to turn things around, but if fails. It makes the audience confused. There were other flaws, but I just wanted to pinpoint the main ones.The performances were pretty solid, but nothing really to write home about. John Malkovich was effective as the back-stabbing Uncle Teddy, but I can't see him play another mobster flick ever again. Seth Green was being his usual Seth Green self. The rest of the ensemble manage to hold their own, except when they start to get all philosophical and it was painful to see Vin Diesel be that way too. Stick to action films Big Vin! Granted this movie had its moments, but I really don't give that much high praise for it. The pacing was slow and was heavily flawed and the twists were not very convincing. Unless you like one of the performers in the cast, then I guess you will appreciate it, but if you're not a fan of any of the cast members, I would suggest you avoid this movie as a whole
brodlimmel
The Knockaround Guys a crime dramas that try to hit that Goodfellas feel but miss completely. Now saying that it is not bad at all it is entertaining and a fun film to watch. This will add elements of comedy in there some cool action by Vin Diesel of course but the storyline is what it fails at it is just such a lame ass ending that you just think wow they really had no clue where they were going with this.The story is about these four wannabe mobsters when I say wannabe they are in the business but the guys higher up see them as lackeys and use them to do small tasks. Yet each of them want to be higher in the business and seen a equals to the bosses. The four guys are Matty Demaret (Barry Pepper)who is the main mob bosses son and wants to prove himself. Chris Scarpa (Andy Davoli) who is some playboy who just wants more then to run a restaurant, and you got Johnny Marbles (Seth Green) is a recovering addict and just wants to prove he is not a screwup last the big guy Taylor Reese (Vin Diesel) who is actually done with "the life" and can't get out.So the pilot Johnny is to transport a bag of money from point a to b simple but he screws up and loses it which means he will probably die. So he calls his friends the other 3 guys to help him track down the cash. At this point the movie is good seeing these guys being small in the big city go to this small town and be the baddest mothers out there. John Malkovich plays the role of Barry's uncle and he just is not a good mobster he isn't threatening and doesn't seem like his plans are even thought out. The biggest flaw is the ending because with out spoiling anything there is a Mexican stand off that just is a waste of time most because there is no tension and you know exactly what will happen.The writing isn't bad it was written by the same guy who wrote Oceans 13. Acting everyone but John Malkovich was good that is not his fault it was just how his character was.Overall this film is a low rental close to just saying see it on cable but if you rent it you would have some fun. This movie just doesn't compare to the Scorsese mob films. Low Rental
predator_silver77
The Plot: Four Sons of big-time mobsters team up for one simple job: to retrieve a bag of cash in a small Midwestern town. Unfortunately, they get themselves into more trouble than anyone could imagine in Knockaround guys.My Spiel: Staring Barry Pepper, Vin Diesel, Seth Green, and Andrew Davoli as the 4 sons. This is a well put together group of actors that you could really believe to be friends. As I watched this movie I liked Vin Diesel hardass character, and have always been a fan of Barry Pepper from Saving Private Ryan movie. Though it's obvious that the movie tried to make you like Barry Pepper & Vin Diesel's characters more then any of the others. I have to say this movie was different stand on traditional mobster movies. Though it could of used some more ass kicking by Vin Diesel. My favorite Part was the bar scene with Vin's character talking his spiel about 500 fights and then kicks that guys ass. Though this movie was a good example of Enemy and friend. This was more of a movie of losing $h1t and trying to get it back in a small old country town, using the street smarts of there live in Brooklyn background. When worse comes to worse these guys just might be the best at this kind of group to get out of this disaster of random $h1t that's happened, or maybe they are just out of there element in this small Midwestern town, But doesn't help that one of them is going threw a crisis of if he wants to live this mob life to make his father proud, but with aspirations to be a sports agent failing because no one will hire him because of his name and his father's mob ties. Each of these 4 characters has a story and a solid background into each of there pasts and who that kind of person is.Knockaround Guys (2002) Review: 6/10
thalb
From the perspective of a 23 year old, this movie is pretty good. Very exciting. I have seen GoodFellas and I think this one is better even though it's quite the copy.This movie is about these untouchable mafia guys that are trying to get something back which every time they get close to it it gets worse and you think they will never get it.I need a minimum of 10 lines for my comment, thats odd. Line 10 here it is. Hm, blank lines don't count. Line 10 again. Wow, this is really frustrating, wen't through all the trouble of creating an account and now this crap.