Scott LeBrun David Mamet scripted this film adaptation of his three character play, in which three unfortunate inner city souls get involved in the plot to rip off a coin collector. Don (Dennis Franz) is a pawn shop owner going through the motions of trying to better himself, while the volatile Walt a.k.a. "Teach" (Dustin Hoffman) stubbornly refuses to accept his lot in life. Bob (Sean Nelson of the 1994 film "Fresh") is Dons' teen aged protégé, the only one of the three who's not necessarily destined to be a loser.While you never do forget the fact that you're watching a filmed version of a play, the story is still pretty riveting. Mamet sure does have a way with dialogue (and profanity); his "Mametspeak" flows quite naturally from the lips of old pros like Franz and especially Hoffman. Franz does an admirable job of being grounded, and reacting to the outbursts of Teach, who is admittedly the more colorful character. Hoffman just commands the screen whenever he's speaking. But young Nelson is quite good himself (why didn't he become more of a star?), believably portraying a kid with some naivety but some streetwise savvy as well. Mamets' script is also interesting in the way that it ruminates on the ideas of friendship, loyalty, and free enterprise.Director Michael Corrente never calls attention to himself by being overly stylish, instead placing full trust in his actors and the material. And the music by Thomas Newman adds plenty of flavor.This is definitely one to see if you're a fan of the cast.Eight out of 10.

tigerized Perhaps my expectations were needlessly high, given the pairing of Hoffman and Franz, and the fact that David Mamet penned the screenplay from his original Broadway play. But after forcing myself to watch the entire production, I had to go online to figure out if I had missed something crucial that might have some redeeming value.Unfortunately, what I found online only mirrored what I had experienced. This film has very to little to offer beyond non-stop dialog delivered at a machine gun pace, much of which is missed given the speed of its delivery. And there's no let up for the viewer, no moments to pause and reflect on the content. You can't afford to, lest you might miss the significant development that has to be in here somewhere, the one you keep wishing would finally appear.But the payoff never comes. But it finally just ends, mercifully, allowing to viewer to wonder why they just wasted their time watching this mind numbing display of a very meager plot augmented only by earthy dialog and very little else. Mamet fans might find some redeeming value here, but for the average viewer, there's very little there, there. Given a choice, sorting my sock drawer has more intellectual stimulation.

helpless_dancer When two low life dirtbags see an easy score they spent many worrisome hours figuring out how to run the game. So engrossed were they in their greed that they were unable to look at the score with any degree on intelligent planning. Hoffman's character was a particularly odious goof totally unable to consider anything but a speedy, easy job. Crazy film; thumbs up.

caspian1978 Your average movie goer will not enjoy this film. With a small cast of three main characters, the majority of the film takes place in a single room. This alone may explain why the film never took off as the blockbuster it should have been with actors such as Dennis Franz and Dustin Hoffman. The direction of the film could have been much better that it turned out to be. Like other critics have said, the film was shot like it was being acted on stage. This is very true. The film has no unique directing style nor does it have any strong motif to add to the films creative look and style. The acting in the film, on the other hand, is wonderful. Franz and Hoffman are excellent together. With a stronger movie maker in the director's chair, the movie could have been much much better.