H-DoGG is BACK!!! ... Smokin' Aces Sputters

Let me begin by saying that I hope during the drought of '07 most of you have continued to check in now and then on the off chance that Jacob may have provided some TV previews and reviews. My thanks to him for holding the line during my extended absence. I had family from overseas living with me for two months, so I was busy doing many many things with them, as I don't get to see them except every so many years. Needless to say it was a fun two months, but I was eager to get back to the blog.

So here I am once again and I return with the rundown of my most recently viewed: Smokin' Aces.

I remember seeing a ton of online advertisements for this flick last winter; I couldn't go anywhere on the net without seeing some mention of Smokin' Aces. It was apparent then that it was trying to sell itself on the good looks of Alicia Keys and low and behold that's about all it had going for it.

The back of the DVD labels this film an "action comedy". For a "comedy" it was way too serious. For an "action" film it was way too tame and slow. So what does this film have going for it? You may not believe it to be the case, but a surprisingly impressive (perhaps more so because it was a surprise) dramatic performance by none other than Ryan Reynolds of Van Wilder fame. If I had to pick a bright spot of this film, it was him. And it got me thinking that I wouldn't mind seeing him in some other straight roles.

Ray Liotta and Andy Garcia basically phoned their roles in; they were nothing special but were the biggest names in the film. The cover and commercials tout Ben Affleck and Jason Bateman, but they were almost entirely wasted. You need more than five minutes of screen time to warrant a marquee billing in my opinion.

The biggest problems with this film are that it tried to cram way too much in as far as outlandish characters and also that it was a jumbled mess of a film as far as plot. Apparently all you really need to know is that all these assassins are gunning for Buddy "Aces" Israel, a mob wanna-be who is going to turn state witness for a mafia investigation. They are all cooky, quirky and "cool" in some way, but ultimately all the guns and gadgets are for nothing because, aside from one gunfight involving a .50 cal sniper rifle, none of them really get any flashy screen time that's worth a damn. And all of it so you get a twist that really neither shocked nor awed in its Usual Suspects type revelation. The lead up to the big twist is so slow, uninteresting and drawn out that the plot does little more than fizzle at the end.

I had heard good things and I was really hoping to enjoy this movie, but I'd be lying if I said that it did anything for me. It was no Slevin. 4/10