Smokin’ Aces

Ensemble cast crime comedies are something of an acquired taste, given their jump cutting between the different characters, and the streak of black, bloody humour at their heart.

Smokin’ Aces is the latest genre entry, from the production team behind, of all things, Love Actually, Nottinghill and Bridget Jones’ Diary.

This time the cast includes Ryan Reynolds, Ray Liotta, Andy Garcia, Ben Affleck, Jeremy Piven, Alicia Keys and Jason Bateman. The plot centres on washed up Vegas entertainer/wannabe gangster/paranoid coke-head Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel (played by Piven, the poor man’s George Clooney), who is desperate to strike a protection deal with the federal government in return for revealing his mafia contacts. While Israel is holed up in his hotel penthouse suite, assorted hit men, bail bondmen and federal agents are all racing to get to him first.

In terms of the action and humour in Smokin’ Aces, most of it comes from the interactions of a hodgepodge collection of characters, including feminist lesbian assassins, a psychopathic torturer, and neo-Nazi redneck brothers who look like they wandered out of Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome.

Otherwise, the film is surprisingly serious in nature. It falls to Ryan Reynolds, Andy Garcia and Jeremy Piven to shoulder much of the film’s dramatic weight. And it’s a pity really, because the straight dramatic sections of the movie are much weaker than the high intensity action sequences.

Typical of quirky crime comedies, events come together in the end, but the tying up of loose ends here seems rather convoluted, and if you have more than a single brain cell you should be able to spot the big ‘twist’ early on in the film.

Smokin’ Aces is an amusing cinematic diversion for a few hours, but it’s highly forgettable when viewed alongside superior cousins like Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, and even The Boondock Saints.