BY MIKEY MIGO
I’m a sucker for a few different types of movies. This 2010 release has two of my favorites. I’m talking about dirty low budget independents and road trip movies. On top of that it’s a darker comedy, it involves Vegas, and the cast is great. I caught this movie like a month ago and the more it settles into my brain the more I realized I had to share. We have Steve Buscemi as a broken down gambler who leaves Vegas behind to move on in life. He ends up working in Albuquerque for an insurance company. He works for a very dickish Peter Dinklage, who stands out in this one. I’ve been seeing him pop up in more and more awesome projects. He has a presence that demands attention and he always seems like he knows more than everyone else. Here he’s just a jerk. Buscemi has a crush on his coworker played by the charmingly weird Sarah Silverman, but she’s involved elsewhere. Dinklage sends him to Vegas to deal with some business. This is obviously an issue for the guy. He’s sent on this trip with the company’s top fraud debunker, the much missed on Weeds Romany Malco. From there, the movie becomes a road trip movie. They travel around and meet some interesting people like Tim Blake Nelson playing a crazy naked guy, the hot Emmanuelle Chriqui as a paralyzed stripper, Harold and Kumar’s John Cho playing a carny, Danny Trejo being weird, and more. Slowly and surely, Steve Buschemi’s character grows some balls and takes on his problems, gambling and life in general, head on. This was a pretty solid movie. It wasn’t too flashy or full of too many indie clichés. I did feel there was something about this movie that made me feel like it was incomplete. Maybe something was missing? Weird editing? Weird casting? Lost pages? I don’t know. I’d give this movie an A if that void was filled, but instead I have to be honest and say this movie was pretty decent. It was funny, dramatic, weird, dark, sick, and easily one of the better under 90 minute movies I’ve seen in a while. It’s surprising that this movie didn’t get more attention and love. There are literally fourteen million movies out there right now not half as good as this that has grossed over a hundred million. This movie barely broke 100 grand. It’s a shame, really. Watch this movie. B
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