Homage or Rip-Off, Take Your Pick

Rating: Null/10 (16 January 2001)

When is a movie an homage and when is it a derivative rip-off? I couldn't stop thinking about that question last week while watching 'Snatch.' It seems to be two cups of 'Pulp Fiction' with half a cup of 'Fight Club' mixed in a blender (at high speed!) with a sprinkling of Worcestershire sauce, making some of the British accents hard to digest, but the result is tasty. I enjoyed this movie quite a bit, but would I have liked it even more if I hadn't seen those two other films? Probably. Even having seen them I couldn't help making mental comparisons at most key points. The only real 'Fight Club' similarity is Brad Pitt as a rebel loner covered with carnage while a cigarette dangles from the side of his mouth. He plays a tough street boxer who can drop a guy twice his size with one punch. His incomprehensible jargon has to be heard to be believed. The comparisons to 'Pulp Fiction' are many and it is fun to spot them. So I will let you see what you can find as you watch it for yourself.
The story itself is slight, but with all the characters this story juggles it would be harder to follow if there were more plot to deal with. We have a dozen gangsters and a settlement of pikers (squatters, or gypsies, to us Americans) who cross paths over a stolen 86-karat diamond. The bulk of the story is really inconsequential. It is mainly a frame on which to hang the run-ins of a gaggle of bumbling crooks who spout pearls of street wisdom off the cuff whenever they're not killing each other. The film is written and directed by Madonna's new husband, Guy Ritchie, and there is a reference to her music in one line. This is a funny movie that will need attention paid to the characters and the accents. For some it may not be worth all that work. Personally, I will see it again.