A Lucky Pick

Rating: 9/10 (7 April 2006)

I had some free time on my hands today, so I decided to hit the theater. I was in the mood to laugh at something, and was split between watching The Benchwarmers or Lucky Number Slevin. According to their trailers, they're both comedies. Being that Lucky Number Slevin had gun-play in its trailer and The Bench Warmers had Rob Schneider, I chose Lucky Number Slevin. Lucky for me.
Lucky Number Slevin was one of the best films I've seen in a long time. It had action, comedy, drama, suspense, and lots and lots of thrills. At first, I thought I was watching a dark comedy but soon realized it was much more. The story focuses on this guy named Slevin who happens to be REALLY funny, but unfortunately has the worst luck ever. After losing his job and his girlfriend, Slevin (Josh Hartnett) decides to visit his friend Nick Fisher in New York. Upon arriving, he's mistaken for Nick, who happens to owe a lot of money to 2 rival crime mob bosses, The Boss (Morgan Freeman) and The Rabbi (Sir Ben Kingsley).
After being roughed up by both The Boss's and The Rabbi's goons and forced to do favors for both bosses in order to pay off Nick's debts, Slevin finds himself under constant surveillance by a relentless Detective named Brikowski (Stanley Tucci) and unknowingly manipulated by a world class assassin simply known as Goodkat (Bruce Willis). Caught in the middle of a mob war and hounded by the police and a deadly assassin, Slevin soon comes to the realization that he'll have to do some pretty horrible things if he wishes to stay alive and out of a jail cell, especially if he ever wants to see Nick's neighbor Lindsey (Lucy Liu) again, who he meets amongst the chaos and falls deeply in love with.
From a dark comedy, to a suspenseful thriller, the transition goes quite smoothly, especially if you pay attention to the beginning of the film. The story has many twists and turns and can be predictable at times, but it's actually for the better. If it had turned out any differently, the ending wouldn't be as powerfully moving. Besides the story, the acting and the camera work are excellent. The entire cast is incredible, as well as the writer and director. My only complaint with the film was a blooper involving a gunshot which at first was loud and then, when shown the second time later on, was silenced due to a silencer on the gun. Other than that, every thing else involving the production was perfect. To sum it up, the film was very gory, very realistic, and basically, very well executed all around.
As for the story, it's really great and to sum it up, it's a well written dark comedy that quickly turns into a suspenseful thriller. For fear of completely ruining the film's awesome story for you guys, I can't say much more, except that the film goes from a suspenseful thriller to something else, something much darker. The ending will have you in tears, with a big smile on your face and desperately hoping for a sequel. For fans of gangster films, spy flicks, and crime stories this film is for you. It has it all, interesting characters that will make you laugh as well as cry and action and suspense that'll have you on the edge of your seat. However, even if you're not a huge action, suspense, thriller fan, you'll find Lucky Number Slevin's story heartfelt and quite heartwarming, not to mention very funny at times. The bottom line, for fans of good film and for anyone else who wants to be entertained for 2 hours, Lucky Number Slevin is your lucky number.
GO AND SEE THIS FILM, NOW!