Review: Smokin’ Aces

UK release date: 12th January

After his thoughtful and engaging cop thriller Narc (2001), writer/director Joe Carnahan wildly misses the mark here with this Tarantino-style black comedy.

When Las Vegas showman Buddy “Aces” Israel (Entourage’s Jeremy Piven) agrees to turn FBI informant, his former Mob cronies put out a hit on him. Enter a motley assortment of assassins ranging from Ben Affleck to singer Alicia Keys (who should stick to the day job), with Ray Liotta and Ryan Reynolds thrown into the mix as Federal agents out to protect their asset.

However, instead of crafting characters to laugh with (or even at), Carnahan indulges in a sniggering schoolboy obsession with casual mutilation and silly wigs. It’s safe to say the director has played his joker here — and lost.

Radio Times rating:

*

UK cinema certificate 18
Running time 108mins

Review by Stella Papamichael

News: Joe Carnahan

The writer/director of this week’s Smokin’ Aces has a slew of new projects on the go, from the promising remake of the 1965 thriller Bunny Lake is Missing, to star Reese Witherspoon, to the incredibly promising White Jazz, set in 1950s LA, based on a novel by James Ellroy (of LA Confidential and The Black Dahlia fame), and set to star George Clooney. With a couple of others also planned, including a film based on the assassination of infamous Colombian gangster Pablo Escobar, Killing Pablo, it looks like Carnahan could well be one to watch over the coming years…