Preshow Entertainment: Mick Hucknall on Letterman, MARRIED...WITH CHILDREN
GUY RITCHIE'S PRETZEL-PLOTTED, MULTI-CAPER FILM WILL THRILL YOU FOR TWO SMOKING HOURS
PRESHOW ENTERTAINMENT:
We watched another performance by Mick Hucknall sans some of his Simply Red bandmates on Letterman in the 80s. He did a killer "If You Don't Know Me By Now." Boy oh boy, if you ever need convincing that some people are just born with it, watch this guy.
We also screened one of my favorite episodes of MARRIED...WITH CHILDREN. To get the attention of football player Matt, Kelly becomes a cheerleader (reason enough to like the episode). When one coach asks the obviously lesbian coach "What do you think of the Bundy girl?", she replies with the defiant declaration, "I like her. I like her a lot." Maybe my favorite MWC line ever. Of course, maybe you have to see it to get it.
AND NOW, OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION:
Let's face it, Carvel's Cookie Puss was a knockoff of Fudgie the Whale (or was it the other way around?). But that didn't mean one was better than the other. Sometimes knockoffs are as good as the original. After PULP FICTION came out, there were so many sucky knockoffs that we all yearned for a Cookie Puss. And we got it with the movie LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS. Of course, some may argue Quentin's own originality, so let me qualify that; he at very least popularized the style.
Despite Sting having a small role, I loved this movie. It's funny, visually exciting, and brimming with violent, jovial glee. Nearly every plan in BARRELS goes awry, and that's what makes it so wonderful. With numerous factions running around planning various crimes and plotting revenge, it's like MONTY PYTHON'S THE STING. It's the Soderbergh OCEANS franchise, but smarter, funnier, and not as cocky.
Ed, along with three of his mates who all fancy themselves cool (they're not), decides to pool their money, play a can't-lose poker game with Hatchet Harry, and become rich. But of course it doesn't work out that way, and the four soon find themselves owing Harry. Meanwhile, Harry has his right-hand man, Barry the Baptist (he drowns people who owe Harry), sub-contract two thieves to steal a couple of antique shotguns. This caper also goes wrong. Simultaneously, another group of thieving hooligans are plotting to steal truckloads of weed from one of their suppliers. And guess what? That too goes wrong.
I won't burden you with too much more about the plots, mostly because it's too much fun watching the stories unfold and cave in. But I will say this; how did writer/director Guy Ritchie, who followed this up with SNATCH (like The Indigo Girls, I love SNATCH), go on to remake the unanimously awful (I bet even Madonna is embarrassed, and that's no small feat) SWEPT AWAY? That's a puzzle in itself. But with a keen eye for shot composition and POVs (like from the inside of an oven or the bottom of a boiling pot of water), ear for dialogue (though at times it felt a little too sitcom-y, going out on a joke in nearly every scene), and nose for what works, Ritchie absolutely made a fun and playful film. Slo-mos, freezes, and speed-ups are put to good use here, and so are the song selections, which could have come off of the jukebox in the Samoan bar featured in the film.
BARRELS has thousands of little moments that satisfy, like when one of the guys comes up with a surefire scam to make fast money involving checks and dildoes, a ruse that can't possibly, in a million years, work. Yet along with the others we listen intently as he does his pitch. In-jokes range from playing reggae when they walk through the house of weed, to showing a close-up of the ass owned by Nick the Greek.
Jason Statham, so good in CRANK (see that one too!), made his debut with BARRELS. But he's only part of a wonderful ensemble of bad guys with gangster leans. With names like Soap and Plank, these are a lovable bunch of lowlifes. If real life tough guys were this funny, crime would at least have an upside.
Mind-bending, blowing, and at times even numbing, LSATSB weaves us through turns and loops like the finest roller coaster. Make that a wooden coaster, since there's something "old school caper" about this film. Yanks will undoubtedly have trouble with the accents at first, and if you need to get popcorn, go to the bathroom or just breathe for a minute, make sure you use that pause button. Unrelenting like CRANK and RUN LOLA RUN, LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS is a meta-post-modern ironi-cine experience. What does that mean? Don't ask me, I'm still wondering if I got the whole movie right. But that's okay. This is exactly the kind of movie you enjoy more on second viewing. I know, because I just watched it again.
