(Movies) Lucky Number Slevin

If most con movies are smart, "Lucky Number Slevin" is remedial. What starts off as a touching, smart, and funny movie quickly dissolves into all-out chaos. And not like a "Fight Club-part of the movie" chaos, but more like a "What Dreams May Come-wow we totally butchered this" kind of chaos. Like a slow kid trying to wow his classmates with his algebra skills, the movie falls apart in an attempt to prove just how smart it is.

It starts out nicely. In the 70's a man and his young son have a day out at the race track, the man having gotten the all-too-cliched "sure thing" tip on the horse race. As the chiche goes, he bets a lot of money on this "sure thing" and soon loses it as the horse "Lucky Number Slevin" falls down right before the finish line. As a result, the man, his wife, and his son are all murdered by some bad men and bookies who know that he cannot repay his debt. Fair enough.

As the story progresses, we entern modern day Chicago (I think) where we meet Josh Hartnett as the hunky Slevin Kelevra (coincidence? hmmm....) who, while staying at his friend Nick Fisher's apartment, meets the adorable Lucy Liu. As it turns out, a couple of rival mob bosses confuse Slevin for Nick Fisher and begin using him for their own gain. From there, as most con movies go, the story get deeper and more complex. It also gets very confusing. Of course this isn't a bad thing. I like to be confused only to be surprised by the truth and explanation at the end of the movie. Well, most of the time...

"Lucky Number Slevin" is an example of a movie where I don't like the truth and explanation. This is primarly because the movie reveals who's who about 45 minutes before the end. So what happens in that 45 minutes? The long, drawn-out, boring details of how the con was pulled off. "Confidence," my favorite con movie, does this in a good 2 minutes and lets you figure out all the details on your own. That's part of the fun. "Lucky Number Slevin" kills that fun. I am seriously not kidding when I say it takes 45 minutes for them to explain the con and tie up loose-ends. This is where the movie goes wrong. It's painful to sit in the theatre for 45 minutes and watch Josh Hartnett explain what you already know. It's painful to watch 20 places where the movie had a great opportunity to end peaceful but then have it say "Oh well did I mention how we pulled this off?" It's not good.

Though that really sucks, I can honestly say I enjoyed the rest of the movie. Josh Hartnett gives, in my opinion, his best performance yet and I don't think I'd be stretching to say that Lucy Liu also gives one of her best performances as well. She's way too cute in this movie. Like Natalie Portman from "Garden State" cute.

Overall, however, I'd be lying if I said I didn't exit the theatre a little disappointed with my experience. I don't think I'll be enticed to watch it agian, but Lucy Liu makes it tempting.

See at your own risk.

Directing: 2 out of 5

Acting: 4 out of 5

Writing: 1 out of 5

Overall: 2 out of 5