Smokin’ Aces

This has the look and feel of a movie trying to spoof the kinetic action films of Ritchie, Tarantino, Scorsese, etc. Everything about it—the action, the performances, the hairpieces—is ridiculously over-the-top to where it seems director Joe Carnahan couldn’t possibly want the viewer to take it seriously. Sad thing is, he does. Oh, not seriously like Gandhi seriously, but his film isn’t a straight comedy or Scary Movie type of skewering of action pictures, yet it feels like one. This screwed-up mess is looking to be the next Snatch or Pulp Fiction. It will probably result in the temporary cessation of all Tarantino rip-offs. I mean, one could hope, right? A mob informant is targeted by feds, criminals and psychos, major gunfights ensue. Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds, Ben Affleck and Ray Liotta star.