Knockaround Guys, Barry Pepper, ... | THUG SHOTS Pepper and Diesel lead ''Guys''
THUG SHOTS Pepper and Diesel lead ''Guys''
Movie Review

Knockaround Guys (2002)

EW's GRADE
C

Details Release Date: Oct 11, 2002; Rated: R; Length: 92 Minutes; Genres: Drama, Mystery and Thriller; With: Andrew Davoli, Vin Diesel, Seth Green and Barry Pepper; Distributor: New Line Cinema

In the nowhere town of Wibaux, Mont., four young men have got 48 hours to retrieve a bag stuffed with $500,000 in Mob cash. Matty (Barry Pepper), the hero of Knockaround Guys, has a hawk nose, an Elvis pompadour, and a look that says ''I dare ya,'' but for all of his junior-thug swagger, he isn't a gangster. He's the son of a gangster, treated by his wiseguy father (Dennis Hopper) as an errand boy; this is his chance to prove his manhood. Once the money passes from a pair of skate-punk stoners into the hands of a corrupt sheriff (Tom Noonan), how are Matty and his pals going to get it back?

They're going to start acting like a posse of generic, heat-packin' tough guys, that's how. Written and directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, ''Knockaround Guys'' seems to think that it's a character study, or maybe an all-in-the-Family portrait on par with ''The Sopranos,'' but it has no twistiness or intrigue, and none of the juicy anthro-underworld detail that Koppelman and Levien brought to their screenplay for the tricky, enjoyable ''Rounders.'' Vin Diesel, cast as perhaps the strongest-looking man ever to sport a Star of David tattoo, enacts his mano-a-mano showdowns with less of the taunting, mushmouthed fake bluster he displayed in ''XXX,'' but Barry Pepper ends up turning coolness into something far too mopey to identify with.

Originally posted Oct 09, 2002 Published in issue #678 Oct 18, 2002 Order article reprints
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