2 Days in the Valley

1996 "You have one minute to decide the rest of your life."
6.5| 1h44m| R| en| More Info
Released: 26 September 1996 Released
Producted By: Rysher Entertainment
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

In a sleepy bedroom community of LA's San Fernando Valley, the murder of a professional athlete by two hit men sets into motion a chain of events that puts the mundane lives of a dozen residents on a collision course. This clever tale tells the story of two hit men, a mistress, a nurse, a vindictive ex-wife, a wealthy art dealer and his lovelorn assistant, a suicidal writer and his dog, and a bitter cop and his partner.

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Predrag "2 Days in the Valley" is a great movie for anyone. If you like interesting story lines accompanied by amazing performances by very talented actors/actresses then you should watch 2 Days in the Valley. This movie packs a lot of star power with names such as Charlize Theron, Teri Hatcher, Eric Stoltz, Danny Aiello, Jeff Bridges and James Spader. The story revolves around the events surrounding different characters, all unrelated. The movie has many sub-plots and develops them all independently until they all merge together and we get the big picture. Throughout the movie, we learn important details that are all leading up to a great finale. The director threw in a lot of little interesting quirks, such as the murderous assassin smirking as he watches a cop sight down the barrel of a watergun, or a spiteful old man who we came to hate earlier slinking out of a Japanese pleasure house in the dead of night. The movie is very well written and very interesting, and if there is any problem whatsoever, it would have to be that at times the dialogue becomes a bit laborous and unrealistic. (Sometimes, it appears that the characters are explaining what's going on to the audience, rather than conversing with the other characters.) Nevertheless, this is a trite point, and distracts none at all from the movie's enjoyment.The cast, especially James Spader and Charlize Theron are top notch, but a crucial change made to "lighten" the movie tosses much of the plot out the window, robs one central character of his key motivation, and greatly hinders the film. Stoltz and Spader give the Best performances, both funny and real. Especially Spader, he virtually Carries the film. Charlize Theron, in one of her first films, is very, very attention-grabbing, through her looks and her abilities. Daniels and Hatcher appear too infrequently to be memorable. Aiello and Headly give equally likable performances that become the moral centre of the film. However, what makes this work is some clever dialogue and some satirical plot ideas, but mainly it is a tour de force of acting by a talented and highly professional cast. This is one of those movies in which every actor is a threat to steal the show at any time one way or the other. In a way it's a parade of cameos cleverly stitched together and then nicely edited.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.
Claudio Carvalho In Los Angeles, the professional cold blood killer Lee Woods (James Spader), and his loser partner, the hit-man Dosmo Pizzo (Danny Aiello), are monitoring the house the aspiring Olympic skier Becky Foxx (Teri Hatcher) that is sleeping with her ex-husband Roy (Peter Horton). During the night, the killers break in the house and Lee dopes Becky with an injection and kills Roy. They flee and Lee shots Dosmo and blow up their car with Dosmo inside. Then he escapes from the crime scene with his Norwegian girlfriend Helga Svelgen (Charlize Theron). Meanwhile the bigoted veteran vice detective Alvin Strayer (Jeff Daniels) wants to bust an Asian massage parlor to deport the women, but his partner, the rookie and ambitious Wes Taylor (Eric Stoltz), does not agree with his attitude. When Becky awakes covered in blood, she runs to the street and stumbles upon Alvin and Wes that drive to her home to investigate the crime. Dosmos is wearing a bulletproof vest and survives; then he seeks shelter at the mansion of the wealthy and snobbish art dealer Allan Hopper (Greg Cruttwell). Allan has kidney stones and his assistant Susan Parish (Glenne Headly), who is permanently humiliated, is taking care of him. Meanwhile the washed-up and suicidal director Teddy Peppers (Paul Mazursky) is at the cemetery with his beloved dog Bogey visiting his mother's tomb with the intention of committing suicide. He sees the nurse Audrey Hopper (Marsha Mason) and offers Bogey to her. She invites him to visit her half-brother Allan that might be interested in the dog. Throughout two days, the lives of these characters are entwined and truth is disclosed."2 Days in the Valley" is one of the best unknown and underrated films that uses a sophisticated screenplay and many well-developed characters in the style of "Pulp Fiction". The combination of crime, thriller, action and comedy is perfect. "2 Days in the Valley" is also the debut of the hot Charlize Theron, in the role of a Norwegian woman. The direction is tight and the performances of the stellar cast are top- notch. What is more incredible is the lack of interest of distributors that have neglected this vintage film that was not released on Blu-Ray; in Brazil, "2 Days in the Valley" was only released on VHS and the imported DVD is very rare. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Contrato de Risco" ("Risk Contract")
Mr-Fusion "2 Days in the Valley" feels like one of those '90s movies that walks in the footsteps of "Pulp Fiction" (cosmic coincidences, lives interweaving, all happening in L.A.) . . . "Go" has also been compared to Tarantino's movie, but that was at least darkly comic about it."Valley" never reaches the heights of those movies, even with such a large cast and an advertised catfight between Teri Hatcher and Charlize Theron. It's not funny and there's never really a payoff. Characters learn lessons about life, but that's where the movie gets syrupy. It's like a fantasyland version of Southern California.But a dull fantasy.5/10
kenjha Several plot lines involving a multitude of characters eventually come together in this quirky comedy. The cast is awesome, with almost every character played by a familiar face. Despite such a collection of stars, however, the film never really takes off. The main problem is the uneven script that tries to balance too many plot threads and too many characters. Also, although it has its moments, the comedy is not funny enough. Herzfeld, who has mostly worked in TV, is in over his head here on both the writing and directorial fronts. In her first screen credit, Theron is an alluring bad girl and engages in a cat fight with Hatcher!