by dane youssefa gang of crook . the perfect plan . it all go wrong . theyre in trouble . the police be outside . theyre corner . what be they gon na do now . sound familiar . the movie seem like it try to be a combination of the act workshop and the indie film and the theater . it the kind of thing that actor love it kind of like a workshop or a play because it mostly consist of tight focus on the actor act . act angry and tense and scared and conversing and scheming and planning give the performer a lot of free range to really ham it all up . a trio of crook and one leader and one goon and one brother and come up with a big heist scheme . and a monkey wrench be throw into the work . to top thing off and there a bit of a fender bender and one of the crook in flung through the back of the windshield . the cop be on their tail and they stumble into a bar name poetically ( and leadenly ) dino last chance . spacey and a a director and try to keep the focus on the actor performance and delivery of dialouge . he pan over to a bright passion red cigarette ad of a smoking and smolder bogart . and he keep all the violence off screen and really . i think that be a mistake . focus on the intensity and gruesome violent scene would have give the movie some edge . the problem with the movie be that it move too slow and suffers from miscast in almost every role . matt dillon ( drugstore cowboy and wild thing ) seem too young and too idealistic to be the leader of this gang . gary sinese seem to brood and deep in thought to be a spineless tag along with these guy and joe mantaga be effective a the traditional routine foul swear mad dog police lieutenant who all thumb and but he isn not give anything to really do here . william fischter be the only actor who be believable in his role a a brainless grunt who just want to spill blood . and the crook be in a tense situation where they either go to jail or they try to think of some way out of this . spacey lack the ability to create a lot of tension and keep it go . the character be mostly chat away and try to think of a plan . and theyre to calm and too articulate . there even a scene where the crook be play pool with a whole swarm of armed cop right outside and ready to strike . at one point and one of the crook even call the police who be right outside the bar . oh brother . oh bother . these cop be go to either blow them away or go to lock them up . shouldn not the hole up crook be a little scared and a little uneasy . meanwhile and all the real action be happen inside . someone whip out a gun and a baseball bat and which lead to an ugly confrontation off screen and there one more casualty that happen that . well and kinda sad . but . faye dunaway also should have spend more time with a dialect coach and improve on her new orleans accent . skeet ullrich be fine in a small part . a cop listening in reach for a pack of match at the absolute bad time be a nice look . and so be a scene where someone go right through the rear windshield . the dialouge be obviously try to go for a david mamet approach and it a profane and but never a realistic or a insightful . the movie feel like too much of what it really be . a really low budget movie with an actor behind the camera for the first time direct other actor from a script that not bad and but need a few more re writes . spacey show he not a terrible director and but he lack a sort of feel for shape a movie and it feel like he just film actor act . these actor be all talented and could work with the material and but they all feel out of place . a i say before and the movie really suffers from miscast . i do not mean that the wrong actor be cast . i think they find just the right cast and but place them in all the wrong role . i think switch some of the role would have help immensely . have veteran mob actor joe mantagna play the leader of the pack and gary sinese a the angry police lieutenant outside on his bullhorn give order and barking at his troop and keep fischter in his bloodthirsty goon part and matt dillion a the sacrificial lamb . that would have be a big improvement . when some actor direct and it work . they can even win oscar for it . but a lot of the time and when actor direct and they have a tendency to just focus on the performance . just shoot the actor act . sometimes it work . but they need a good showcase for it . an excuse for it . hostage situation be all pretty much the same in real life just like come of age story so it only natural that movie about them will go from point a to point b a well . there be a few really great entry into this genre . spacey himself appear in a similar movie about hostage situation represent the negotiator . this certainly would not become a cult classic and let alone one of afi 100. still and it do have a few nice moment and personal touch and but in the end and it instantly forgettable and the kind of movie that would play best on regular tv . it just not worth go out of your way to see . i give a negative . spacey other directorial credit and beyond the sea be reportedly a good effort . hmmm . maybe it true . you need to fail before you succeed . by dane youssef .