Gambling, a Most Dangerous Pastime

Rating: 8/10 (3 October 2006)

Do you know those kinds of movies where you laugh but you want to do more than laugh, you're excited but you want to jump up and scream about it, you're surprised but you want to just tell everyone in the theater about how surprised you are, and it's so clever that you want to remember every single line so that you can hastily tell all of your friends the best scenes? This is the epitome of that movie. Its script is possibly one of the wittiest ever written. Its story is so tightly knit and full of perfect twists and surprises that the director so gracefully and steadily adjusts extremes in moods for, and the dialogue is so inspired and hilarious, so witty that David Mamet has finally run up against his true competition. The dialogue is so funny because of how literal and nitpicky the characters are with each other, so no matter what situation they may be in, they can suddenly happen into some silly semantics argument. The dialogue is full of clever non sequiturs and human notices and details that it blows most of the silly, pseudo-clever dialogue from other crime films in this vein. It's that type of script that, instead of making you think of who has influenced the work, makes you think that the writer has gone beyond a simple influence and created a style all his own.
The direction of the film, while most people will surely say it's inspired by Tarantino, is very inventive and elegant, a bit reminiscent of De Palma if anybody, and the work of someone who is very much a master of mood swings, as the tone of the film swoops and shifts but never throws the movie out of balance for one second. Another thing that's very original and quirky about Lucky Number Slevin is that it is a field day for all minorities: There are black gangsters at war with Jewish gangsters, the boss of which has a gay son, there's an Asian heroine, and something for every other one. It goes out of its way to go against the grain but appeal greatly to gangster fans with expectations.
The cast delivers some of the most absorbing and distinguished performances of their careers, especially Lucy Liu, who plays a character the filmmakers must've pathologically cast a completely contrary actress for, playing an eccentric, chipper kook, almost a cartoon, rather than the cold and intimidating dominatrix that's been the staple of her career. Male fanatics of the crime genre, of which there are many, won't be able to resist the idea of Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley both playing crime bosses in the same movie, and Bruce Willis playing assassin may be a bit deja vu-inducing but it cannot get tiring. I've never seen Josh Hartnett so entertaining, enjoying every second he has on screen.
Lucky Number Slevin is a must-see for any fan of movies. It's a melting pot of pleasure.