SUICIDE KINGS (director: Peter O'Fallon; cast: Christopher Walken (Carlo Bartolucci/Charlie Barrett), Denis Leary (Lono Vecchio), Jay Mohr (Brett Cambell), Henry Thomas (Avery Chasten), Sean Patrick Flanery (Max Minot), Jeremy Sisto (TK), Johnny Galecki (Ira), Lisa (Laura Harris), 1997)
Another film skewed for Tarantino enthusiasts, and this one is just as conversationally maddening, filled with vulgarities and street talk, but no sex. It pays to be the first one on your block to do it, because imitation is always second-hand stuff, and this film has the feel of something already done by many other copy-cats. But it was a funny movie, in a perverted way, even if the story line just didn't add up. But, then again, life doesn't make sense, as Carlo Bartolucci aka Charlie Barrett (Walken), the retired crime boss knows, and he is the main man and reason this film comes up looking good. He gets kidnapped by a group of rich young men: (Avery (Henry Thomas), Max (Sean Patrick Flannery), TK (Jeremy Sisto), Brett (Jay Mohr) and Ira (Johnny Galecki).They chloroform him, duct-tape him to a swivel chair in the isolated, shuttered summer house in Long Island of Ira's father, and cut off his ring finger. Ira is the only one in the group who didn't know what was going on, as the boys showed up at his house with Charles when he thought they were coming to play poker. He is the only funny one among the boys, berating them for drinking his parents' liquor and messing up the place, as he acts the part of the nerd and butt of their jokes.
When you hear the reason why they did this, you'll know for sure that this film doesn't make sense. It goes like this, Avery's sister, Lisa (Harris), gets kidnapped on a date with her steady squeeze Max (Sean) and supposedly has one of her fingers cut off. There is a ransom note for two million dollars, which the family can't afford to pay. The boys figure that by kidnapping the crime boss (The logic being, he's a bad guy anyway and deserves what he is getting), they can get him to put up the ransom and use his underworld contacts to find the kidnappers.
This is Peter O'Fallon's feature film debut, as he chugs out all the slickness he could muster to make this film seem like its happening, including glittering credits that seem to be dancing on the screen. Even the title is slick, as it refers to the king of hearts (the one with the sword through his head). But it also could refer to the ill-advised nature of the mission the boys are on, because what they are doing is surely suicidal.
Denis Leary as Lono, the wiseguy lieutenant in Carlo's mob, who has a constant dialogue going on about his $1,500 boots, and is the temperamental strong-armed enforcer of the mob, is brilliant in this role, providing enough wise cracks and controlled violence to make you forget about the craziness of the story, as he keeps contact with Carlo's lawyer and zeroes in on both sets of kidnappers. His encounter with the dopey kidnappers of Lisa, shows how he goes about his business, pulling the film into the gangster genre for a few minutes before going back to its satire of that genre.
Suicide Kings has its share of surprises and plot twists, as it becomes evident from Charlie's contacts that there was an insider on this job, who is one of the boys who kidnapped Charlie, as he starts playing mind-games with them, telling them that the difference between winning and losing is being able to read your opponent. This is done while the boys are playing poker, and it passes for about as much wisdom as you are going to take away from this well-acted, dark comedy/suspense film, that is absolutely ridiculous, but it is entertaining as escapist-fare.
There is one more priceless pearl of wisdom dished out, that I feel should be mentioned, because it highlights the confusing messages the film sends out, it was also uttered by Charlie during his confinement, and for no particular reason it made me laugh aloud-- "Everybody lies: But word on the street, that's solid."
This film is anything but solid, but it had a weird flavor to it, that sometimes seemed natural and other times forced. But the performances of Walken and Leary, kept me in this one, sometimes wondering what's the story with this film.
REVIEWED ON 5/25/99 GRADE: C
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
=A9 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ
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