"Homeboy turned out to be a major league fecal freak" - Easy Wind

Things To Do in Denver When You’re Dead

Let me start out by saying this is a good movie. Some people will tell you otherwise. Do not listen to them. They are haters. The movie is somewhat quirky in the way a lot of movies that came out right after Pulp Fiction were. It is not just a quirkiness for quirkiness sake, however. The movie is very well constructed and has a some very good performances by both its principal and supporting cast members.

The story is that of ex-gangster Jimmy “The Saint” Tosnia, played by Andy Garcia. This ex-gangster is desperately trying to go the way of the straight and narrow. He has started a company for terminally ill people so that they can record messages to their descendants. The business is not going well. One day Christopher Walken’s goons pull our man back into the fold to do an action. Not a piece of work, mind you, just an action. When this goes south, and it really goes south, all of Jimmy’s crew get whacked.

The central conceit of the film is that the execution order comes down the chain of command so everyone involved knows they are all living on borrowed time. The rest of the film has much to do with how we all deal with the inevitable, our own death. Each member of Jimmy’s crew handles it differently and therein lies much of the film’s art. Everyone who has screen time does a lot with their characters and if you like anyone in this movie you will probably like this movie.

Now the disclaimer: a buddy screened this with me and some of the dialogue, mainly between the two love interests, was admittedly a bit corny. I was able to deal with it, but my friend was more offended than the time I suggested Mad Max be remade with midgets and called Mad Midget Max. In fact, while some of the dialogue is a bit cheesy, most of it is stylized and quite interesting.

This movie is a solid rent and solid buy if your DVD collection includes Pulp Fiction or True Romance.

You should rent this movie if

1. You like offbeat crime capers.
2. You enjoy stylized dialogue.
3. You like character actors.

You should buy this movie if

1. You own any Tarantino films.
2. You are a Steve Buscemi, Christopher Walken or Andy Garcia completist.
3. You want to watch a well made character driven story that is both poignant and funny and you want to watch it more than once.

If you are interested in buying this DVD here is a link to Amazon where you can get it at a reasonable price: