Cool title, cool film. Okay it cops a few riffs from Reservoir Dogs / Pulp Fiction in its manipulation of narrative, stylised cinematography and ultra-cool language, but this well acted gangster yarn is eminently watchable. I did have a problem with the scatological patois of almost all the main characters - I could have done with a subtitled thesaurus at times, most noticeable when Andy Garcia's Jimmy the Saint character switches from the street-jive to almost sub-West Side Story street-poetry in his pursuit of the oddly named Dagley who again slightly unbelievably, falls for it! The names are great too, Damon Runyan for the 90s - I mean Critical Bill, Easy Wind, Franchise, Pieces and Mr Shhh, a great nom-de-plume for a hit-man. The various set pieces are all well done, from Jimmy the Saint's meetings with Christopher Walken's sinister "Man with the Plan" who emerges from the gloominess of rooms as dark as his depraved mind, to the rain-soaked botched "bracing" of the offending teenage lovers, to the silent assassinations of Jimmy's "crew", culminating in the double-murder when immovable force meets irresistible object as Mr Shhh confronts Critical Bill. The ensemble acting's terrific, Garcia in the lead playing a part he can do in his sleep, but the laurels for me are taken by the great Christopher Lloyd as Pieces who knows his race his run and accepts his impending doom with grace and courage, Treat Williams as the deranged Critical Bill and Fairuza Balk as the tart with a heart with whom Jimmy plants his seed. The device of using Garcia's business of the terminal elderly leaving afterlife video messages for their loved ones works well between scenes as does the running commentary offered in a similar ilk by Jack Warden. I got the "Gladiator" type ending in advance, with Jimmy delivering his own valediction on video before hooking up with the guys for "Boat drinks", but that didn't reduce my satisfaction at a well worked conclusion to a quirky enjoyable movie.
