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Life of Crime

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Life of Crime (2014)

August. 29,2014
|
5.8
|
R
| Comedy Crime
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Two common criminals get more than they bargained for after kidnapping the wife of a corrupt real-estate developer who shows no interest in paying the $1 million dollar ransom for her safe return.

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Alicia
2014/08/29

I love this movie so much

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Colibel
2014/08/30

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

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Grimerlana
2014/08/31

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

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Aiden Melton
2014/09/01

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

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Bryan Kluger
2014/09/02

Have you ever wondered what life was like for Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara (Samuel L. Jackson and Robert De Niro) before the events of Quentin Tarantino's 'Jackie Brown'? Well now you can find out with this film titled 'Life of Crime', which is based on the Elmore Leonard book 'The Switch' from 1978. Leonard's 1992 novel 'Rum Punch' was adapted into 'Jackie Brown' in 1997. This is more or less a prequel to 'Jackie Brown' that focuses more the Ordell and Louis characters and their earlier crimes.Director Daniel Schechter must be a huge fan of both 'Jackie Brown' and the Coen Brother's film 'Fargo', because 'Life of Crime' is basically both of those films rolled into one with the same type of dark humor that made those films iconic in the first place. While 'Life of Crime' is nowhere near as good as 'Fargo' or 'Jackie Brown', it still has enough laughs, stylistic choices, A-list cast, and fun dialogue to stand on its own despite its low budget of only $12 million dollars.The film is set in the 1970s, complete with the outrageous outfits and hairdos true to that time period where we see a younger Ordell (Mos Def) and Louis (John Hawkes), trying to figure out how to make money on the next scheme. They hatch a plan to kidnap a wealthy socialite named Mickey Dawson (Jennifer Aniston) who is married to a very wealthy business man named Frank (Tim Robbins). Ordell and Louis know that Frank is always out of town and is indeed seeing a younger woman on the side named Melaine Ralston (Isla Fisher, but formally played by Bridget Fonda in 'Jackie Brown').They do indeed kidnap Mickey, but to their dismay, Frank is perfectly fine with his wife being kidnapped and possibly killed, so he doesn't have to pay a ransom or any spousal support in the future. In fact, he already sent Mickey divorce papers. Now, Ordell and Louis must go to Plan B to collect money on their crime. Meanwhile, a man named Marshall Taylor (Will Forte), a married man who is trying to have an affair with Mickey gets caught up in this schemed and ends up being kidnapped as well, only adding to the chaos for Ordell and Louis to get out of. Some of same sadistic funny moments from 'Fargo' and 'Jackie Brown' are evident in 'Life of Crime', and Schechter does a great job of keeping it fresh while paying homage to the previous films.Even though there are some tense moments and some funny dialogue, the pacing is somewhat off here and doesn't flow as well as it should. But with the fun and entertaining cast here, you'll tend to turn the other cheek at these ailments. Aniston is excellent here, as is Robbins and Forte. Mos Def and John Hawkes are excellent as younger versions of these 'Jackie Brown' characters, which should make De Niro and Jackson proud.

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Alicja Johnson
2014/09/03

Meh. That's the word I want to use when I think of an overall impression of Life of Crime. Released in 2013 at the Toronto International Film Festival, Life of Crime is an independent crime-comedy film directed by Daniel Schechter. Although it's classified as such, I did not find myself experiencing any kind of laughter. The writing, also done by Schechter and Elmore Leonard, is lackluster with little comedy. So….meh. Ex-convict Ordell Robbie (Yasiin Bey) persuades Louis Gara (John Hawkes) to partner with him and the Nazi-supporter Richard (Mark Boone Jr) to pull off the kidnapping of Mickey Dawson (Jennifer Anniston). The kidnappers plan to demand a one million dollar ransom from Mickey's husband, Frank Dawson (Tim Robbins), who has been keeping some excessive assets in a bank account kept secret from his wife. However, Ordell hasn't done enough research and fails to realize that the Dawson marriage is in shambles. Mickey appears to be lingering on the thought of having an affair with one of Frank's friends, Marshall Taylor (Will Forte); she is getting fed up with her abusive husband. Meanwhile, Frank is already fed up with Mickey, and on the cusp of filing for divorce. When Ordell and Louis come to abduct Mickey, they are surprised to find Marshall arriving at the house to pay her a visit – so they knock him out and leave him in the closet. However, the pair come to find out that Marshall is just a molehill…the mountain comes when Frank refuses to pay the ransom. I had several problems with this film; but let's begin with the writing of the characters. First of all, there were exactly two people with any sort of moral compass: Louis and Mickey. The other characters were morally disgusting, and not in the amusing way that Heath Ledger's Joker was. Although he was kidnapping a woman, Louis did show remorse and also protected Mickey from the cruel intentions of his cohorts. Mickey is ever the sweet and innocent victim in both her marriage and her kidnapping. Life of Crime is one of those flicks that shows the story through the views of the heroine and the villain(s) equally. The benefit of this type of film is that the villain has the chance to make the audience sympathetic for him or her. Life of Crime does not take advantage of this. The audience is given no information about the past of the kidnappers, and thus their actions are just black and white – there is no morally gray area. We aren't even told what the partners need the money for! The only characters we get any back story on are Mickey and Frank; but even that back story is wanting. There is some good character development in Mickey, but overall the characters in this film lack depth.Despite the problems with the actual characters, the acting in this film is just satisfactory; only one actor stands out in this film as more than that. Boone does a great portrayal of Richard (I always feel awkward when complimenting an actor on playing a horrifying character well!). Richard is clearly meant to be the truly terrible member of the kidnapping team, with all his Nazi paraphernalia and his aggressive attitude. There are even a few moments where Boone appears to be more of a literal beast than a man. Boone turns Richard into massive and terrifying villain – the kind you want to see burn. This movie could have been so much more. The plot is an interesting and original idea, but the opportunity goes to waste under the writing and direction. Also, there are a few plot holes that the audience gets stuck on. Overall, the film is unengaging and a total miss.

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Tss5078
2014/09/04

The plan was simple, kidnap a rich suburban woman, while her husband and son are out of town. The husband is corrupt, so he will be more than willing to pay a ransom, in order to keep them quiet, and to get his wife back, right? This group of bumbling, life-long criminals thought they had it all figured out, except for one small problem, Frank Dawson (Tim Robbins) isn't really interested in getting his wife back. This strange film, based on the novel, Switch by Elmore Leonard, takes place in the late 70's, and had critics raving, but after seeing it for myself, I'm left with one question, why? After the kidnapping takes place, the film moves at a snails pace, with criminals arguing, and phone calls back and fourth, nothing happens for the majority of the film. Jennifer Aniston stars and gives probably the worst performance I've ever seen her give. She is this spoiled, whiny, rich bitch, who just doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut. It really got to the point where every time she spoke I cringed. On the other hand, Tim Robbins, who plays her husband, was hilarious, but not in the film nearly enough. One of my favorite young actors, Charlie Tahan, also has a role in the film, as their son. In the brief amount of screen time he has, we see a very troubled and confused kid, an angle that could have helped the story, but he too was hardly used. The majority of the film features Jennifer Aniston interacting with her kidnappers and trying to form a bond with the bumbling idiots. I'm not sure if this was supposed to be a comedy or just a comedy of errors wrapped up in a dramatic theme, but either way it doesn't work. Most of the cast is absolutely horrible, the majority of the film is unbelievably slow, and the parts that aren't, just don't make a whole lot of sense. Life of Crime had quite a few side stories that could have been utilized to fill up the space and break up the monotony, but it was all left on the cutting room floor, leaving us with a film that could be used as a method of torture at Guantanamo Bay.

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Lee Eisenberg
2014/09/05

I learned of Elmore Leonard when I saw "Get Shorty", based on one of his novels. I later saw "Jackie Brown" and "52 Pick-Up", also based on his novels. And now there's "Life of Crime". It's another good one. During the first few minutes I thought that it was going to have the same plot as "Fargo", but it has a different story. The characters are the types that you can care about, even the unctuous ones, and the violence helps move the plot along as opposed to being gratuitous. No, it's not a masterpiece, but it's still an enjoyable movie. I especially liked what Jennifer Aniston's character does with the cigarette.I wonder what Elmore Leonard would have written had he lived longer.

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