“Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds, Andy Garcia, Ben Affleck, Alicia Keyes, Taraji P Hensen, Nestor Carbonell, Jason Bateman, Ray Liotta, Chris Pine, Joel Edgerton, Matthew Fox. I’m sure you recognize a bunch of those names. So why don’t you recognize the movie? Unclear. For one, this was released in 2006, so some of those names (Carbonell, Pine, Hensen) weren’t as well known at the time. And this was before Jeremy Piven’s infamous mercury poisoning that somewhat killed his career, and would have been reason for the producers to want to hush this movie. So what’s the excuse for the rest of it?
Okay this is kind of a hot mess. Basically everyone I mentioned is trying to get to Jeremy Piven for some reason or another. They’re in groups of various size and motive. That’s a lot of people to keep track of, and they’re not seeming to do too well a job of juggling in between shots of Piven engaging in some type of self destructive behavior.
Chris Pine is cracking me up because he is not the Prince Charming we know and love him for now. Instead he’s a crazy redneck with a grill and ink and a strange hairstyle. Clearly I never expected him to become the star that he is today, seeing as how I didn’t even remember him from here. Oh man, that alone was worth the rewatch.
Alrighty so the movie continues and the characters start to converge in on each other until a giant bloodbath. Despite the shootout, I wouldn’t consider it much of an action flick. It’s just violent, gratuitously so. That doesn’t bother me per se, but I do like a little more substance or flair with my blood. And so, Smokin’ Aces fades back into obscurity and out of my memory.”