Welcome to Collinwood (2002)

Just what I expected

Just perfect...

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

"Welcome to Collinwood" is a Hollywood remake of a very good and successful Italian comedy caper. But this American version of the story doesn't compare to the 1958 caper comedy, "Big Deal on Madonna Street." The screenplay is weak, the cast and characters mostly fall short; and the comedy is mostly lame stuff. It's a watchable movie, but just barely. This is one of those instances when Hollywood should pass on filming a remake to equal or outdo an original. This not only was not close to the original film. but fell far short. Perhaps at some time in the further there will be a right cast and timing, with some witty writing, to redo the original.

This film is an enjoyable romp from start to finish, funny, witty and pleasingly entertaining all the way through. All the characters are quirky and caricaturish and genuinely amusing. Whilst it's not typically laugh out loud funny it is definitely chuckle to yourself and giggle out loud.A stellar ensemble cast including George Clooney, William H Macy, Isiaih Washington, Michael Jeter, Luis Guzman, Patricia Clarkson and headed up - to my mind - by the superb Sam Rockwell do the brilliant script justice and the Direction and overall production of the film I don't think can be faulted although it comes across as fairly low budget.In a similar vein to O Brother Where Art Thou? (also Clooney) in terms of humour and oftentimes silliness but also with a point, and an unpredictable and surprising turn of events, this story weaves a full circle from opening scene and flash back to how they got there. Not at all Hollywood, just original and wacky really giving the actors room to develop individual characters. Basically a heist film, some small time crooks hear about a "bellini" (not the champagne cocktail) - the big score that will see them right - and it's about how these misfits get it entirely wrong and into more trouble than the score is worth, no doubt. Some incredibly edge of seat crazy scenes, suspenseful and daft, Rockwell really steals the show as Cassanova, criminal mastermind, fixer and - scarily - the brains of the outfit. This film is what cinema is about, reminiscent of older films that were pure entertainment. Some bad language but it isn't gratuitous or out of keeping. Thoroughly enjoyable.

"Welcome to Collinwood" is about a thief getting the plan for the perfect heist. The trouble is, the thief is in jail, and the crime cannot be carried out until they find a jail replacement. No-one wants to do time for the crime, but everyone seems to know a guy who will - but for a price. A group of 6 friends are soon looking to get their filthy hands on a piece of the action!The directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo create this film in a great way, making you laugh the whole way through. It is a spin on "Ocean's Eleven" (2001), but with double the laughs! The film is made up of Top- Notch performances, making it the funniest comedy of the year!The film features George Clooney as Danny Ocean, a retired US Army soldier, who is an expert at cracking safes. He doesn't feature in the film much, but is performances are amazing as always. Even though his appearances aren't huge, he still plays an important part in the film.The film successfully puts crime and comedy together to create the perfect film. It clearly demonstrates how 2 completely different genres can be added together, and work well. It takes us about half of the film before we fully understand the story and catch on to the humour, but when the film ends you will be laughing hard, and wishing that the humour could have gone on for longer.Overall I would recommend the film to anyone who is into comedies. It is energetically written, and the effort has clearly paid off. It is truly a masterpiece of humour.8/10

Before George Clooney directed Sam Rockwell in his directorial debut "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind", they starred together in this movie. George Clooney also was involved with this movie as a producer, along with Steven Soderbergh, which shows that they really believed in this project. In potential this also seems like a fine and entertaining project, that is in the same line with movie-remakes such as "Ocean's Eleven" and "The Italian Job" but somehow this movie is only halve successful, or at least it isn't as good as it could had been.The movie its characters are all being played by some fine well known actors but a shame is that the characters are not really given enough room to develop. Even though in their potential they could had turned into fun and enjoyable characters, they are now only characters that mildly entertain because mostly of some of the more quirky sequences that are in the movie. The fact that they are being played doesn't change much to this, even though they prevent their characters from ever becoming a total bore or perhaps even annoying, or anything like that at all.It's of course due to the writing that the characters aren't used to their full potential. I can only assume that the original Italian movie "I Soliti ignoti" works out much better than this movie does. The movie relies too much on its simple story and predictable way of storytelling.Nevertheless the movie is simply still a very fun one to watch maybe because of that very same simplicity. It's an harmless little caper movie, in which you simply shouldn't to worry much about the story. In that regard "Welcome to Collinwood" is still a movie that works out and simply serves its purpose well.It's a movie that you won't regret watching once you've finished it but it also is a movie you can really easily do without ever seeing.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/