3.5 stars out of 5
It has many of the trappings of a quality independent movie: veteran actor playing a past-his-prime type, quirky supporting characters, logos of prominent film festivals on the poster. If we take a deeper dive into the credits, though, the indie pedigree starts to crack. Knives Out guy Rian Johnson is an executive producer. Writer/director Noah Segan has acted in three Rian Johnson movies, and his only previous writing credits are a vampire flick and a segment in a horror anthology.
Still, I try to judge a movie by what I see and hear on the screen, and it starts pretty strong: We hear “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” by my pal James Murphy’s LCD Soundsystem, which sets us up for yet another cinematic love letter to New York. (The city has received so many of these love letters, you can imagine them being filed away in a shoebox unopened.) John Gallagher Jr. (The Newsroom, social distancing selfie No. 931, etc.) is a modern-day fast-track business guy who realizes… his wallet’s been swiped! By who? Now we visit another New York, with run-down storefronts, pawn shops owned by Steve Buscemi, and old-school pickpocket John Turturro who poo-poos cellphones, computers, you get the drill.
Our protagonist is a thief. Except we’re rooting for him because he steals from worse people and he’s caretaker for his neurodegenerative-suffering daughter— this was confusing for a long time, why is this other character calling her his “old lady”? Oh it’s because this significantly younger woman is his WIFE.
Turturro is terrific in this. We’ll be disappointed when he isn’t nominated for best actor, boo-hoo. Was also happy to see Giancarlo Esposito, whose career I’ve been following since 1987, as Turturro’s buddy on the force. One’s a cop and one’s a crook but they things in common! Buscemi is just right as an old-timer making a few concessions to modern life to keep his business active. Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) gets one ok scene as Turturro’s estranged daughter from an earlier marriage. I wish I’d seen cameos by Aida Turturro and Ad-Rock. Rob Brown has a bit part; I may have spotlighted him in Scholastic MATH Magazine back in 2000 when he co-starred with Sean Connery in Finding Forrester.
A different, more subtle writer/director could’ve used most of these elements and delivered a touching, possibly tragic character study. A small film, and still a NYC love letter, why not. But something just felt off to me here. And then there’s some stunt casting in a key moment which basically knocked me out out the story, followed by some twisty-turny plot work. Both of these late elements seemed disrespectful of the audience, like we couldn’t accept a soft landing. Try us! But maybe soft landings are impossible once you have your knives out.
being underrated is overrated
Jack Silbert, curator