StunnaKrypto
Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.
SparkMore
n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.
KnotStronger
This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Mabel Munoz
Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
oruboris
They had the bones of a really good story, here: two guys, more than best friends. More than brothers, more than lovers, they are each others sole support system, like twins conjoined by emotions instead of biology. What happens when a girl comes along that threatens to cut them apart?Too much is included here that's not integral to that story: >they aren't just thieves, their *gigolo* thieves, cuz that's, ya know, *cooler*. >not just one woman threatens to separate them, but two. And oh yeah, it's a mother/daughter duo, both (inexplicably) drawn to the same dude (really, how much ego massage does Getty need?) >and Mom has a creepy friend who practically brow beats her into the affair because, uh... no reason, really: just makes mom's adultery more forgivable >the boy's criminal bosses aren't just pointlessly bizarre, they're pointless: they steal focus without adding interest >oh, and it's a coming of age story about 'boys' in their late twenties/thirties, even though it would have worked better on several levels played roughly a decade younger.David Arquette is surprisingly good: the viewer is more in touch with what he's feeling than he is himself, making the emotional cyclone of the climax feel real and inevitable. Margulies is radiant, sensitive-- anyone would fall in love with her. But Getty seems out of his depth and Birch is painfully wooden: no chemistry between them, leaving Arquette to carry the load alone.Worth seeing? Depends on how big a soft spot you have for bad boys, and whether you are put off by the smell of unfulfilled potential.
gradyharp
SLINGSHOT explores the ups and downs of the lives of two boys, close friends since childhood, both from homes where they were unwanted, who made it through reform school and remain as a unit into an adult life as petty scam artists - living on the edge of crime and a life of desperate need for belonging. The script by Jay Alaimo (who also directs), Matt Fiorello, Matthew Martin is gritty, full of humor and fine interchanges between the characters that manage to lift the story to a higher level of social statement than the usual 'crime buddies tales'.Ashley (David Arquette) and Taylor (Balthazar Getty) are the borderline 'bad guy duo' who have decided to move their scam of charming lonely housewives while robbing them to Fairfield County, Connecticut: the scam is that Taylor seduces the women while Ashley robs the preoccupied women. One of Taylor's hits is bored and married Karen (Julianna Margulies) whose second marriage is passionless making her an easy target for Taylor's charms. All goes according to plan until Taylor realizes he cares for Karen and Karen (with a lot of encouragement from girlfriend Emma - Joely Fisher - for an affair) falls for Taylor. The nightly signal from Karen that the coast is clear for Taylor to join her in bed is a light from her bedroom, yet when that goes on one evening, Taylor meets Karen's young daughter April (Thora Birch) in her mother's bedroom and barely escapes discovery when Karen and husband come home early. April at first mocks Taylor's attraction to her mother, but gradually the two bond - the first time that Taylor has been close to anyone except Ashley.While Taylor is 'prepping' Karen for robbery Ashley is mixing with their 'crime bosses' Dickson (Michael Janik) and Fast Bobby (Svetlana Metkina) and feels the threat to perform. Several incidents lead to the final confrontation between Taylor, now enamored with April, and Ashley, who finally comes to grips with the fact that he is love with Taylor. The long-standing duo hits a schism and how that resolves provides a disturbing ending.The four leads - Arquette, Getty, Margulies, and Birch - offer performances that are more than simple outlines of disconsolate characters: they inhabit their roles, finding cores of credibility that allow the viewer to understand the needs and fears of these isolated people. The cinematography by Paul Daley is appropriately grimy and the film editing by Jim Rubino takes Jay Alaimo's direction to a more cohesive whole. While not a great movie by any means, it is a touching character study of what happens to unwanted kids whose lives are dependent on each other in a world that rejects them. Grady Harp
shelbyc_72
This filmmaker wanted to make a movie without having a story to tell -- and did so. Really awful jumble of unlikely/unexplained coincidences and unidentifiable plot line, all without character or clear motivation.We get cliché snapshots instead of characters. One in particular is the diminutive and beautiful crime boss, who projects an overdone "tough guy" persona and casts a cartoonish shadow of intimidation over the actual tough guys who have been brought in to work for her. Nothing much startling to look at in the film except for one shot when the boys hit the road and one of them carries a tiny suitcase (as in, the smallest from a complete American Tourister set) in a bright, sky blue, without explanation or apology. Otherwise it's standard visually -- one other exception is a compelling shot of a beautiful bridge in CT.
checkacheck
Glad to see this is finally out on DVD. It's nice to see these actors on screen and in roles that suit them well. Gotta love Arquette, Birch, Marquiles and Getty. I wish more movies like this were made these days. It felt, to me, like a movie in the vein of the great indie dramas of the early 90s - the ones that also had a good amount of real life humor but also had real characters. Hopefully it's not a dying breed. I don't mean to imply that this movie is a talky, unplotted movie like Clerks or Pompetus of Love (nothing against those films). This is absolutely a genre film - a con film - it's just done in a sort of different tone than others. I don't know how this movie did theatrically but it's a definitely worth a rent. I think of it as a hang out movie, to use a Quentin Tarantino phrase, the kind of movie where you really enjoy hanging out with the characters.