FLYPAPER DVD (2011)
SYNOPSIS: Two gangs of robbers descend on the same bank, but hearts are what may be stolen instead in Flypaper, a madcap crime comedy from the screenwriters of the blockbuster The Hangover. Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy) stars as a nervous customer with a crush on beautiful teller Ashley Judd (Double Jeopardy, Crossing Over). They and the other staff and customers become hostages when two very different groups of crooks hit the bank simultaneously: a high-tech trio who plan to break into the vault and a pair of small-timers whose idea of a big score is knocking off the ATMs. When people begin mysteriously dying one by one, everyone involved begins to wonder if there's someone else in the bank up to no good. Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother, Where Art Thou?), Mekhi Phifer (Dawn of the Dead) and Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development) also star in this comic blast of a mystery.
MOVIE REVIEW:
A long in gestation project of ‘The Hangover’ writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, ‘Flypaper’ unites a motley group of B-list stars for a caper comedy that is as true to its title as can be. Indeed, despite its none-too ambiguous attempt to be both smart and hip, this zany bank heist farce is ultimately lightweight entertainment that can’t quite match the potential of its supposedly clever conceit.
It must have seemed witty at the time to write a movie about two sets of vastly different robbers descend on the same bank at the same time, but Lucas and Moore hardly find the right tone nor the right twists to sustain the premise. Rather, the clash between a pair of backyard bumpkins named Peanut and Jelly (Tim Blake Nelson, Pruitt Taylor Vance) and a trio of slick high-tech thieves (Mekhi Phifer, Matt Ryan, John Ventimiglia) account for little more than fitfully amusing moments that don’t quite add up to a whole.
In the middle of the mayhem stands one of the more irritating characters in recent memory, a fast-talking obsessive-compulsive savant Tripp (Patrick Dempsey) whose manic performance makes you want to kill him off after all but a good ten minutes. The movie would have you believe that both groups of criminals end up listening to Tripp’s plan of going about their robberies as planned- since one is after the cash in the ATMs and the other is after that in the vault.
But even if we can suspend that bit of disbelief, the indulgence that the movie begs for us to think that they would simply leave the group of hostage stereotypes to roam the bank as they please or worse buy Tripp’s idea that a criminal mastermind named Marcellus Drum had been behind the twin robberies after all is simply preposterous. Instead, it speaks of the script’s ineptness when it turns a robbery into a murder-mystery as the hostages and robbers team up to try to figure out just who this Drum character might be.
And in case you’re wondering, the revelation is a letdown, with the same that could be said of the happily-ever-after ending that leaves Tripp rich with wealth and romance- in the form of quasi-hottier bank teller Kaitlin (Ashley Judd). Part of the fault is Rob Minkoff’s ill fit for the material, the director of family-friendly studio hits such as ‘Stuart Little’, ‘The Lion King’ and the uninspired Jackie Chan-Jet Li comedy ‘The Forbidden Kingdom’ clearly out of his league at both pacing and tone in more adult material.
Even the cast offers scant compensation- while Nelson and Vance make for an amiably funny pair, the rest of the actors largely fall flat. Most perplexing is Dempsey, who chose to produce this film but turn in a ingratiating performance that does nothing for his stalling film career which he had tried unsuccessfully to launch outside of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’. Judd looks more and more like a has-been, and essentially sleepwalks through the role without sharing any chemistry with Dempsey.
No wonder then that even with the pedigree, ‘Flypaper’ skipped a run at the cinemas and went straight to video. It makes for a passable viewing time on a lazy Sunday afternoon, especially if you need some diversionary entertainment. But any other time, ‘Flypaper’ is hackneyed, tired and perhaps even frustrating to watch- and you’d be advised to let this fly by you.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio makes for a largely uninvolving experience, but visuals are clear enough for the movie.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Gabriel Chong
