(rated R, 86 mins.)
Five guys, one safe, no brains. An offbeat comedy about a guy named Cosimo (Luis Guzman) who lands in jail after a car theft. While in the slammer, he tells his visiting girlfriend Rosalind (Patricia Clarkson), that a fellow lifer inmate has told him that there’s gold stashed in an old flour factory. After a life of crime, Cosimo finally has his “bellini”, his perfect setup, his best job ever if he can only get out of the can. Trying to find a fall guy, a “Mullinski”, Cosimo rounds up five loser underdog pals. Pero (Sam Rockwell) is a failed boxer, Riley (William H. Macy) is a single dad who needs the money to support his baby son resembling Popeye’s sweetpea, Leon (Isaiah Washington) who wants to secure a better life, and Basil (Andrew Davoli), a handsome Italian gigolo who’s as broke as a one-wheeled wagon. Last but not least is Toto (Michael Jeter) an old timer with nothing but time on his side. With the help of Jerzy (George Clooney), they attempt to learn safe-cracking techniques. This goofball and hilarious comedy plays out like part “O’ Brother Where Art Thou?” and part “Oceans 11”, which only stands to reason since it’s produced by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh. Every character is perfectly flawless in their mindless role, but it’s Clooney as an angry, fully-tattooed-wheelchair-bound-heist-expert that steals the show.
