Grit With Sugar On It

Rating: 8/10 (19 March 2013)

Truly a heavy dose of Pop Culture not only inhabits this Movie but is this Movie. It is grit with sugar on it and Hard Boiled cooked soft. It is a stylish overdone Mall Movie with Grindhouse roots, but tamed enough to be date worthy.
A Fantasy Film for teenagers and Young Adults that is so "Hip" it can be at times quite snazzy. There are some truly memorable scenes and the two leads are attractive and engage with so much energy that it is electrifying.
The Movie is very violent and full of trash talking and clever twists and turns and it has a buzz that is infectious. There are some real Characters here and fanciful fictional they may be they are enormously entertaining. The best parts of the Film are as good as any at the time and realized a new Screen Writer's entry into Hollywood.
There are a few things that keep this from being the Director's and the Writer's best. It is just so heavy-handed at times that it almost loses its edge. The two cops for example are so over the top that they become almost unbearable ("I love this Clarence guy") is not only used once but again and again. The Movie Producer and his aid almost bring the whole thing to a point of asinine absurdity that is intolerable. And perhaps a few other irritants, like "Dick Ritchie".
But overall one cannot deny that this is entertaining stuff for the in-crowd and is Tinsel Town glam and "collar up Cool" that is Tarantino turf and surf, prepared by Tony Scott.