The Guys this movie centers around are old crime buddies reunited after one, Val, is released from a 28-year prison stay, so the plot comes across as an epilogue. Their most thrilling days are far behind them, but still they manage to get into plenty of mischief in just a matter of hours. The gist is that Doc has been ordered by his crime boss to kill Val by 10-AM, something he’s only reluctantly going along with in order to save his own life. Val killed the boss’s son before going to prison, and the boss wants revenge, so if Doc backs out, he too will be killed.

That revelation brings with it a certain level of underlying tension, despite the fact that Doc immediately admits to Val what’s going on the moment he gets suspicious enough to ask about it. And tension, however weak, is a good thing. The problem is that the plot, which often runs in real time, has nowhere to go from there. 10-AM is the deadline and Doc makes it obvious he’s going to wait until then to do it, but the random things they do in the meanwhile; this movie is much better at drama than comedy; only strains the plausibility of the plot.

my rating : 3 of 5

2012