-By Maitland McDonagh
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It starts with a plan any idiot would know was doomed. Johnny Amato
(Vincent Curatola), a perpetual small-time wiseguy in thrall to the
delusion that one smart move could send him rocketing up the
ladder, imagines his ticket to the big time is knocking over a
high-stakes poker game run by Markie Trattman (Ray Liotta). The
beauty of it is that Markie is a perfect fall guy, having already
ripped off his own game once before. Markie's always been popular,
which is why he isn't long-dead, but even the prom king of life's
party doesn't get a second “Hey, WTF, it's Markie” pass.
Johnny recruits ex-con Frankie (Scoot McNairy), who brings in his
pal Russell (Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn, of 2010's chilling
Animal Kingdom), a professional dog-napper with dreams
of moving up to smack dealing, even though Johnny has him pegged
(quite rightly) as a junkie screw-up. The heist goes surprisingly
well…it's the aftermath that's a killer, and level-headed enforcer
Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt) is the guy stuck cleaning up the
mess.
Adapted from the novel
Cogan's Trade by George V. Higgins
(
The Friends of Eddie Coyle),
Killing them Softly is
black comedy at its most stygian, a parade of sad-sacks, no-hopers,
sellouts, screw-ups and basket cases: No one with the sense God
gave geese would bid a nickel on the lot at auction. And the sad
thing is that most of them know it. The other sad thing is that a
handful don't, and their attempts to claw their way out of the
barrel by treading on anyone too weak, stupid or principled to slap
them back causes a whole lot of trouble.
The film's underlying conceit—that all this bottom-feeder jockeying
for position is the funhouse mirror of American politics and
business—is neither as fresh nor as compelling as writer-director
Andrew Dominik appears to think. But the movie is never dull:
Higgins could plot like nobody's business, the dialogue crackles
with crude energy and vulgar eloquence, and the cast is exemplary:
In addition to those already mentioned, James Gandolfini, Richard
Jenkins (
The Visitor), Sam Shepard and “Boardwalk Empire”'s Max
Casella knock every single scene out of the park.
Film Review: Killing Them Softly
A 1970s shaggy-dog heist story set in 2008 New Orleans, Killing Them Softly's razor-sharp edge is never far from the surface.
Nov 27, 2012
-By Maitland McDonagh
It starts with a plan any idiot would know was doomed. Johnny Amato (Vincent Curatola), a perpetual small-time wiseguy in thrall to the delusion that one smart move could send him rocketing up the ladder, imagines his ticket to the big time is knocking over a high-stakes poker game run by Markie Trattman (Ray Liotta). The beauty of it is that Markie is a perfect fall guy, having already ripped off his own game once before. Markie's always been popular, which is why he isn't long-dead, but even the prom king of life's party doesn't get a second “Hey, WTF, it's Markie” pass.
Johnny recruits ex-con Frankie (Scoot McNairy), who brings in his pal Russell (Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn, of 2010's chilling
Animal Kingdom), a professional dog-napper with dreams of moving up to smack dealing, even though Johnny has him pegged (quite rightly) as a junkie screw-up. The heist goes surprisingly well…it's the aftermath that's a killer, and level-headed enforcer Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt) is the guy stuck cleaning up the mess.
Adapted from the novel
Cogan's Trade by George V. Higgins (
The Friends of Eddie Coyle),
Killing them Softly is black comedy at its most stygian, a parade of sad-sacks, no-hopers, sellouts, screw-ups and basket cases: No one with the sense God gave geese would bid a nickel on the lot at auction. And the sad thing is that most of them know it. The other sad thing is that a handful don't, and their attempts to claw their way out of the barrel by treading on anyone too weak, stupid or principled to slap them back causes a whole lot of trouble.
The film's underlying conceit—that all this bottom-feeder jockeying for position is the funhouse mirror of American politics and business—is neither as fresh nor as compelling as writer-director Andrew Dominik appears to think. But the movie is never dull: Higgins could plot like nobody's business, the dialogue crackles with crude energy and vulgar eloquence, and the cast is exemplary: In addition to those already mentioned, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins (
The Visitor), Sam Shepard and “Boardwalk Empire”'s Max Casella knock every single scene out of the park.
