You know, the cast looked pretty good.

But it seems like they were just making it up as they went along. I cannot believe that this movie had been written in advance with a screenplay and all. It felt more like, a let’s-go-to-Tahoe-and-make-a-gangster-movie-and-wouldn’t-it-be-cool-to-have-a-bunch-of-stuff-happen-that-dares-people-to-think-its-stupid movie.

xXx with Vin Diesel was better, and it wasn’t very good.

i just cannot say enough good things about this flick. i love it! the characters are great, there’s some great fight scenes. the ending is great. the score is pretty good. i wish i saw it in the theatre.

contrary to the below reviews i thought smokin aces was great! yes, there were a lot of characters. wonderful, crazy characters. from the neo-nazi, brother trio aptly coined “the tremors”, wielding chainsaws and machetes and also possessing some of the bluest eyes known to man. an arrogant drug addict magician w/ a penchant for hookers. an ADD karate chopping kid w/a hard-on, to the justice seeking “good cop” who goes a little rogue at the end played brilliantly by ryan reynolds. reynolds has come a long way from two guys, a girl, and a pizza place. you won’t be disappointed. i have such a fondness for andy garcia and he shows up playing the powerful, slightly corrupt figure that i love. were the characters confusing? no. i guess if you look away for a second when one of the hitmen changes his appearance to look like a guy he just killed, you could be confused. i guess….

Okay, first of all, was the casting director strung out on something? Mathew Fox, Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds, Ben Affleck, Ray Liotta, Jason Bateman, and Andy Garcia? In the same movie? Oh, and then let’s throw in Common and Alicia Keyes in there because we need some street cred. Um…what?

Second of all, did any of the actors actually read the script? Or was the script not the problem? Maybe it was the editing? The plot is muddled. At first I just thought I wasn’t getting it, but it’s not just me. I’m an intelligent woman, I think I can understand a movie that isn’t even two hours long.

Actually, maybe the movie could have been longer. There were so many characters it was kind of hard to keep track. Or maybe I’m asking too much of an action movie. Why develop your characters when there are giant guns and chainsaws and fires to play with?

Well, because when Jeremy Piven starts having a meltdown, instead of feeling sympathy for him, I’m left to conjure a list of possible motivations. Maybe he’s just high?

Ryan Renyolds has a great part at the end, reacting to a bureaucratic screw-up, but the film really didn’t do a good job of establishing his relationship with anyone. As a result, his level of emotion is confusing at best, and the action he takes because of this emotion just doesn’t wash.

PS: This movie has a 6.7 out of 10 on IMDb. Again…what??

A testament to this film.

I fell asleep.