carbuff I love odd and different movies and this qualifies well. I'm always looking for hidden gems, and while this isn't a diamond, it's a long way from being merely cubic zirconia. The story is quirky and funny, with some serious scenes (and even a downright brutal scene) mixed in. All of the cast are very good with no poor performances at all, and the story is pleasantly unpredictable. If you do a bit of research into the true story on which the movie is based, you will also find that it puts a very entertaining (although implausible) twist on history. If you are tired of standard fare, giving this more unusual film may be worthwhile.

MBunge This movie may be titled Ordinary Decent Criminal, but it could just as easily be called The Kevin Spacey Vanity Project. I have to give Spacey some credit, though. When most actors have enough success and get enough clout to do a film like this, they do the most pretentious, self-important, artsy fartsy crap imaginable. Spacey decided to dust off the traditional British Crime genre and do a halfway decent rendition of it. However, it's only halfway decent.Michael Lynch (Kevin Spacey) is the sort of criminal who only exists in the traditional British Crime genre. While America's fictional gangsters, thugs and crooks are often charismatic, they're almost always different than normal folk. There's something about them that sets them apart from others. The traditional British Crime genre, though, presents us with criminals who are fundamentally no different than the next guy on the street. T hey may be crooks, but it's just another job. They rob banks the way dentists clean teeth or veterinarians care for sick pets. In the British Crime genre, working class hoods are just like garbage men or factory workers. The upper class thieves are like doctors or engineers. And the crime lords? They're like politicians or captains of industry. These people don't turn to crime because they're greedy or selfish or lazy or otherwise dysfunctional. It's like they went to school with everyone else and the guidance counselor just told them "You'd make a good criminal".Michael Lynch is an exceptional criminal. The sort who is not just one, but always two steps ahead of the law. Lynch, an Irishman, and his gang rob banks, welfare offices and just about anything else that catches their fancy in Dublin. They plan their crimes like football coaches planning for the big game or salesmen strategizing over their next big sales meeting. Even while Lynch is on trial for one robbery, he and his gang are committing more. And Lynch's plans are always brilliant enough that no one ever gets hurt and they always get away clean.Lynch also has a genuinely unusual family life. He's married to Christine (Linda Fiorentino), sleeping with her sister Lisa (Helen Baxendale) and he has kids by both of them. The kicker being…everybody knows about it, including Christine and Lisa. It's de facto polygamy, with Lynch having one house with Christine and another with Lisa and everyone seems perfectly fine and happy with it all.Things start to go wrong for Lynch when he runs afoul of the IRA and falls in love with stealing a 30 million dollar painting. His gang manages to nab the painting, but they can't get rid of it. It hangs around their necks and draws more attention from the police than they ever imagined. An IRA man also takes a dislike to Lynch and schemes to break up his gang and see Lynch dead or in jail. Lynch has to deal with the cops, the IRA and his own desire for fame and glory over money.This isn't a bad film. As I mentioned, it is unrealistic in the way the traditional British Crime genre is unrealistic, but if that doesn't bother you, Kevin Spacey fans will likely enjoy Ordinary Decent Criminal a good bit. Spacey's Lynch dominates the story, with the other characters getting very little if anything to do, but Spacey is very charming in the role and seems to be having a great time with it. There are several fun capers throughout the story where the twists and turns are clever without being ridiculously contrived.The whole movie, however, is awfully shallow. The polygamy thing with the sisters is never examined. The conflict between the middle class ambition of Lynch and the more working class aspirations of his gang is barely touched. Lynch's own struggle with his need to be recognized and applauded is dealt with in a perfunctory manner. The ending also gets quite stupid, asking you to believe that Irish cops have never heard of a wiretap, fingerprints or DNA; that a huge amount of cash somehow teleports out of a bank and into the hands of one of Lynch's gang; and that when Lynch comes up with a plan that totally depends on a guy getting shot in the face by random chance, the guy manages to get shot in the face by random chance.Idiotic ending aside, there's nothing aggressively wrong with Ordinary Decent Criminal. But…there's nothing all that great about it. If spending 94 minutes with Kevin Spacey, Linda Fiorentino, a very young Collin Farrell and the woman who played Emily on "Friends" sounds appealing, rent this film.By the way, was I the only one bothered by Ross and Rachel naming their baby Emma? I mean, Emma's not to close to Emily for comfort? Wouldn't that be like George W. Bush and Laura adopting a black child and naming him Barick?

edumacated I'll admit this film is amusing at times, but it cheapens the real story.watch "the general", an Irish film with a real Irish cast about a real Irish villain. the true story is filled with irony, and the lead actor is far better than the ersatz spacey. and just for poops and grins, if you want to see how a real actor plays different roles across different times and places then try to find the works of: Javier Bardem--the actor who played the looney in "no country for old men".but since you mention spacey, we are talking about a one trick pony, who has been hyped throughout his career, maybe because he was sleeping with the right producers, but sex aside, he plays the same smarmy character in every film. he has about as much range as a pop gun.now you may be asking, why Ireland in 2000? well the answer is simple. this was the period when spacey had retired to London for two reasons: the first is that he had found some Brits to bankroll him in a disastrous theater expedition; the second being he had worn out most of the l.a. and n.y. boy toys. his English backdoor escapades quickly became common fodder for the fleet street tabloids.i have often wondered why spacey was so popular in the u.s., and i realized that it all goes back to the Greek saying: eat sh*t--a million flies can't be wrong. that logic being for the peasant majority, if entertainment tonight says an actor is hot--then he is hot.

Troy (Troy2Slick) I had pretty high expectations when I went into seeing this movie. With the likes of Kevin Spacey and Colin Farrel, why wouldn't anyone expect greatness? Instead, I was reduced to watching a cheesy movie with the most god awful Irish accents I've ever heard in any movie, period. Kevin Spacey can NOT pull off an Irish accent to save his life and he made a huge mistake in taking this movie project.It wasn't my cup of tea and I absolutely hated this movie. I gave it a 5 out of 10 for the simple fact that outside of the cheesy accents and dialog, the plot and acting was semi-decent.Was that enough to salvage this garbage heap of a film? By all means, NO! Stay away from this stinker, even if you are a HUGE Kevin Spacey film. Go rent K-Pax instead, you won't be disappointed in that gem of a film.