Cusack, Rhames, Malcovich, and Buscemi in: I Needed the Money!

Rating: 8/10 (29 July 2002)

This is an interesting anomaly in the Hollywood Spectrum. Take an overly talented cast (John Cusack, John Malkovich, Ving Rhames, and Steve Buscemi) and make a movie as bad as possible. I do not blame anyone for this movie. Not the writers, not the director, not even Nicholas Cage. Somehow, this movie managed to suck and I don't know how. Outside of Magnolia and Cradle Will Rock, this is one of the most talented ensembles I've ever seen. Take almost anyone of these men (or even Nick Cage in some movies) and you've got a Being John Malcovich or High Fidelity or Pulp Fiction or Ghost World worthy performance. Put them together, and you get Con Air. Not that there aren't funny moments. Steve Buscemi is especially hilarious as a Hannibal Lecter-esque sociopath. But the battle scenes and climactic chase scene all seem rather forced. Mind you, I didn't watch this expecting Citizen Kane. I watched this expecting cheese along the lines of Plan 9 or Chopping Mall. What I get instead are lazy performances from a talented cast who needed a paycheck. As for Nicholas Cage (I had to get to it sooner or later), his character has NO FLAWS. He should have a freaking halo around his head the entire time. Even during a fight scene he is NEVER to blame for anything. If his long-haired hick of a character had any flaws he might be interesting. But, as the previews showed, even when he's in a life-or-death situation, he's more worried about his daughter's stuffed rabbit then anything else. I give it a four just because I can't completely hate a movie with the combined forces of Malkovich, Cusack, Buscemi, and Rhames. Heck, it even had Dave Chapelle being not funny, which is really hard to imagine for anyone who's seen his stand-up special, Killing Them Softly. With this much talent, you can't completely hate the movie. Until next time, this is ToucanBob fighting the good fight.