Bottom line, this is a very funny, silly, slapstick, goofy film - but very adult, with twists and turns as the largely amoral characters grapple and use each other to get what they want. None of the characters are particularly likable, Jjaks (Reeves) seems the most put upon but he's in and out of prison and Freddie (Diaz) is a good time girl who messed with the wrong people and is just doing what she has to do to get by. It's also a sort of romantic love story although despite Reeves acting superbly and being rather cute, the chemistry between him and Diaz is lacking something. Diaz, I don't feel is acting her best and often is a somewhat monotone, as if reading lines, but they are enjoyable to watch and whilst I think she's the weakest performance she has the most difficult and emotionally exposing role and in that case I think she does well. It's the scenes with Reeves and D'Onofrio that are truly engaging in an anti-chemistry kind of way. They rub each other up the wrong way - sibling rivalry - Jjaks having had the bad end of every deal in their childhood - and in doing so provide some scarily good aggression and slapstick comedy timing genius ensues. It's a film where you have to watch closely, for some grand scale and also minutiae performances, and it can be watched over and over again for laughs and the drama. Reeves is animated and light - like Diaz, I think he suits comedy and there are plenty of funny scenes (albeit black comedy as often as not) to enjoy. Diaz is both charming and annoying - her character is understandable and relatable (possibly due to her performance making it so) but also largely without scruples and single mindedness: her dream of working in Vegas - and I like that whilst it ends satisfactorily, it's not particularly Hollywood in it's ending and it's predictable but pleasantly so. Dan Aykroyd is the hapless, stupid, love-sick, cop on the take with a very overblown Minnesota accent - or is it Canadian, or Irish? He brings more laughs, and Courtney Love in a small but nice role adds small town glamour and a stable foil for some of D'Onofrio's eccentric behaviours.
Adults only black comedy, lots of bad language, scenes of a sexual nature (though not gratuitous) and a lot of violence and aggression. The subject matter, and plot, make for a very dramatic film but it's played for laughs which makes it an enjoyable romp with all the actors giving it 100%. Amazingly this film flew under the radar of 90s cinema-going and is an unexpectedly good film that I've seen a number of times and it doesn't get old. Not a chick-flick although it may appear as such, and plenty for boys to enjoy.
Adults only black comedy, lots of bad language, scenes of a sexual nature (though not gratuitous) and a lot of violence and aggression. The subject matter, and plot, make for a very dramatic film but it's played for laughs which makes it an enjoyable romp with all the actors giving it 100%. Amazingly this film flew under the radar of 90s cinema-going and is an unexpectedly good film that I've seen a number of times and it doesn't get old. Not a chick-flick although it may appear as such, and plenty for boys to enjoy.