Welcome to Collinwood

Plot synopsis:
Cosimo is arrested when he and Toto try to steal a car. In prison, he meets an old man who tells him of a “Bellini” - a perfect heist - that he could not carry out because of a life sentence. Cosimo asks his girlfriend Rosalind to find a "Mullinski" (slang for someone willing to do prison time in exchange for money) so that he can walk free and pull off the heist. Rosalind and Toto ask misfits Basil, Leon, Riley, who babysits his infant son while needing £1,000 to pay his own wife’s jail fine, and Pero, a boxer who agrees to confess to Cosimo's crime for $16,000 but ends up being jailed alongside him. While inside, Pero gets Cosimo to tell him what the Bellini is before revealing that his own sentence was suspended, leaving Cosimo still in jail. Returning home, Pero is met by Rosalind and the other four demanding a refund. He tells them he used the $16,000 to pay off debts but will share the Bellini details. The six then decide to carry out the heist themselves.
The Bellini concerns a brick building on Chester converted from a flour factory into apartments and a jewelry store. The old man in jail worked on the conversion and created a false wall between one apartment and the room with the jewelry store safe. Riley steals a video camera from a street market so that the group can get the combination by filming the jeweller opening the safe. After filming fails they hire Jerzy, a wheelchair-bound safecracker, to teach them how to drill into the safe, whereupon Detective Babitch starts to keep a close eye on them. Then two maiden aunts with a maid named Carmela move into the long-vacant apartment, and so Leon and Basil pretend to accost Carmela while Pero comes to her "rescue" to secure a date in the hope of stealing her keys. Meanwhile in prison a guard suddenly drops dead and Cosimo uses his uniform to escape. When he confronts Pero and the others, they try to convince Cosimo that they can split the take equally, but he hits Rosalind for betraying him and threatens to kill anyone who tries to pull off “his” Bellini.
Rosalind becomes disheartened and leaves the group but Pero finds that he is falling for Carmela, who reveals that the aunts will be out of town for several days. That same night Cosimo dies in a bus accident. Basil meets Leon's sister, Michelle, and they begin dating although she tells him that she wants “an honest man". After Babitch watches the group attend Cosimo’s funeral Pero decides to bribe him in exchange for turning a blind eye while they do the heist, and gives Babitch the $16,000 which he has lied about spending.
On the night of the heist, Riley leaves his baby with Rosalind but while on his way to meet up at Pero's apartment he gets his arm broken by the men he stole the video camera from. He arrives with one arm in a cast and “high” from a bottleful of Vicodin. Leon, having found out about his sister’s affair, arrives to confront Basil. Basil then reveals that he can't go on the heist because he’s now taken an honest job in order to be worthy of Michelle, and leaves. During the heist itself, everything that can go wrong, does. Toto loses his pants, Pero bites off the tip of his tongue, and they find that their floor plans are out of date when they break through the wrong wall (into the kitchen) at 3 am. They realize there is not enough time left to reach and crack open the safe, but Toto finds $1,000 in a cookie jar and so they decide to heat some soup on the apartment stove so as to eat before leaving – whereupon the stove blows up. After the explosion, the group is standing at the bus stop. Riley suggests that they shouldn't see one another again, but just as he gets on the bus the other three decide to give Riley all of the $1,000 for his wife’s jail fine. Leon heads home to apologize to his sister and tells Pero to let him know when he gets another Bellini, and before Pero also leaves Toto asks him about Carmela, and tells him that it's important to have someone to walk with, more so than money.

Tags: comedy

Review:
It's just a well-shot, well-written, well-acted slapstick heist film, for goodness sake - and the characters are SUPPOSED to be shallow idiots!
I strongly suggest that anyone who is simply after a good laugh should watch this film, and that those who seek high art in everything they see should either learn to relax a bit, or spare the rest of us their tedious opinions!
They are a total bunch of likeable oddballs who you want to see get away with it,but they are so hapless that there is very little chance of that.No one is better than William H Macy at portraying the man with a big heart but down on his luck.This is probably his best performance since Fargo.Sam Rockwell played the meathead boxer to perfection,and the rest of the gang were uniformly good also.Luis Guzman brought some great comic relief as Cosimo,and George Clooney stole every scene in his cameo role.The heist scene at the end was absolutely hilarious.
The direction was also spot on by the Russo brothers.There was certainly a Coen brothers feel to the film throughout and it will be interesting to see how they will develop their careers.They have a long way to go to match the Coen's but this is an excellent start and I look forward to their next celluloid outing.
Watching this comedy directed by the brothers Anthony and Joe Russo reminded us of maybe another film we had seen in the past, but since we missed the opening credits, we had to wait until the end to discover that what we were reminded of, was the 1958 Italian film "Big Deal on Madonna Street", directed by Mario Monicelli.The Russo brothers put together a magnificent cast to portray all the characters in the film.
Macy, Luis Guzman, Sam Rockwell, Patricia Clarkson, the late Michael Jeter, in it, can't be bad.
George Clooney makes a small appearance as the master safe cracker who is also seen impersonating a rabbi, only to be confused with a priest by the gang members coming out of Cossimo's funeral.The best way to enjoy the movie is to sit back and relax, and let all these small time crooks do their thing.
Soon bad boxer Pero Mahalovic (Sam Rockwell) founds out the details of this so called "perfect job".First of all, I think this movie was very funny and from my point of view I would recommend it to everyone.
But "Welcome to Collinwood" is great comedy for itself, about four people trying to rob the money from the vault in one house.
Macy (great), Isaiah Washington, Michael Jeter (great), Luis Guzmán, Patricia Clarkson, Jennifer Esposito and finally George Clooney gave their share in this project.
That said, I had no idea "Collinwood" was a remake and, regardless, thought it was surprisingly funny, well acted (the cast was phenomenal led by Sam Rockwell's perfectly funny lead) and just a good watch.
Then there's also George Clooney in a very funny cameo.As with most caper movies, one does not ask for more than to be well entertained and this "Welcome to Collinwood" certainly succeeds in doing..
And that's the reason is good, it copies all the funny characters and the plot, even in details (like the scene where the photographer steals the camera from the local market).I have watched the superb old version many times and I knew by heart all the gangs and the ending but I still enjoyed "Welcome to Collinwood", which has its own freshness and atmosphere.
Stylish heist movie with a sense of humour and a classy cast including Sam Rockwell and William H.
Sam Rockwell has to seduce the girl next door to get into the apartment etc  the film quickly tumbles into farce  it all goes horribly wrong  the various characters crack under pressure at different stages and the gang disintegrates then reassembles with humorous consequences blah blah blah  one for a quiet afternoon or early evening  bit of a bloke flick I suppose..
The cast, all fine actors in their own right, put in a great job, and you get the impression that they had a good time working together which is fairly important in a movie like this.
This is one of those "little great movies" made almost by low key approach and as art film.
Overall, movie is very enjoyable for anyone who loves crime/black comedy features, except when it ends, it'll leave you wondering why hadn't lasted a bit more..
The Russo brothers first full-length feature film 'Welcome to Collinwood' is a funny slapstick heist flick.
Cosimo (Luis Guzmán) is told in prison about a perfect heist.Since he's behind bars and can't do it himself he has to leave it to his girl Rosalind (Patricia Clarkson).Soon there are five guys organizing the crime- five guys with very little brain capacity.Brothers Anthony and Joe Russo are the directors of Welcome to Collinwood (2002).It's a crime comedy that's often very funny.You can't help but laughing when everything goes wrong with these guys.There are some great actors playing these characters.William H.Macy plays Riley.Isaiah Washington is Leon.Sam Rockwell is Pero.Michael Jeter is Toto.Andy Davoli is Basil.Gabrielle Union plays his love interest Michelle.Jennifer Esposito plays Pero's love interest Carmela.George Clooney (also producer) plays Jerzy, the tattooed guy in a wheelchair.This is a highly entertaining flick.I certainly recommend it..
Macy which always have perform this kind of roles, maybe his most representative, Fargo; and George Clooney which is a very good actor showing his comedian work in brothers Cohen film "Oh brother, where art thou?" which results to be one of my favorite movies ever!
Having the opportunity to watch some of the filming in the Slavic Village-Broadway area I couldn't wait to see it's final copy.Viewing this film at the Cleveland Premier last Friday,I haven't laughed out loud at a comedy in a long time!
Having the opportunity to watch some of the filming in the Slavic Village-Broadway area I couldn't wait to see it's final copy.Viewing this film at the Cleveland Premier last Friday,I haven't laughed out loud at a comedy in a long time!
It's a sometimes laugh out loud comedy about a petty crook (Cosimo, played by Luis Guzman) who gets caught trying to steal a car and sent to prison.
 word passes from one low life loser to the next and soon a team of them are assembled to try and cash in on Cosimos `bellini' lead by failed boxer Pero (Superbly played by Sam Rockwell  surely a star in the making) and reluctant crook Riley (William H.
It was a genuine surprise since I found out about his death only after watching this funny film.Like quirky heist comedies?
Welcome to Collinwood is a lot of things, but it is none of the following:A George Clooney star vehicle Unfunny Un-OriginalAnd yes i know, the basis for the movie is another movie.
If film's as original and funny as this were pumped out as often as multi-million pieces of s**t, the cinematic experience would be a much fresher place - When 'they' say they don't make em like they used to, 'they' didn't see Welcome to Collinwood.A fun, mini-masterpiece of caper comedy, that refuses to compromise.
Oddball heist film with quirky characters and big laughs at the end.
I had never heard of this flick despite the connection to George Clooney (whose company produced and he appears in a very funny supporting bit) and his Ocean's 11 director Steven Soderbergh.
Even with some a-list star power (at least a-minus...okay, b-plus?) this movie got very little publicity.But that does not diminish its genius.Terrific writing, solid delivery and a believable group of characters.
After a slow start we get some good turns from the cast but it is the actual 'Bellini' that both makes and lets the film down.
Even though it was incredibly late and we were weary, the entire audience really enjoyed it.Personally I thought the film was hilarious in all the right spots, and I loved the quirky cast of characters.
Each character has their moment, and I laughed hard throughout this film, comedic timing was spot-on..
Whilst it's not typically laugh out loud funny it is definitely chuckle to yourself and giggle out loud.A stellar ensemble cast including George Clooney, William H Macy, Isiaih Washington, Michael Jeter, Luis Guzman, Patricia Clarkson and headed up - to my mind - by the superb Sam Rockwell do the brilliant script justice and the Direction and overall production of the film I don't think can be faulted although it comes across as fairly low budget.In a similar vein to O Brother Where Art Thou?
Basically a heist film, some small time crooks hear about a "bellini" (not the champagne cocktail) - the big score that will see them right - and it's about how these misfits get it entirely wrong and into more trouble than the score is worth, no doubt.
It's one of those movies that had potential, but was robbed of this potential thanks to a terrible script and some bad acting, not to mention the strangely annoying and unnecessary George Clooney character and the guy who reminds me of Richard Dreyfuss but about whom I care so little that I don't even want to know his name.The film's only saving grace is the weird con vocabulary it introduces.
It's a pretty good cast, but the film has nowhere near the grace of the original Italian comedy "Big Deal on Madonna Street" Anyone looking for an entertaining caper film should visit the original.
Great dialog, great scenes and all of the cast plays off each other like they've been together forever.I really recommend this film for everyone (though not for kids as there is strong language) who wants to just simply laugh until their sides hurt!
This is a film of little emotional bondage, all romance to be seen is played for laughs through satire (the guy finally gets the girl but all she does is assert herself right in the way).
Macy and Michael Jetter the greatest performance comes from other produce George Clooney as a wheelchair bound heist pro, who for five hundred dollars will teach these boys a thing or two about breaking into a safe.
Clooney is loud, rude, profane and obnoxious, and ever bit a guilty pleasure to laugh at as anything you've seen in Scary Movie films.
WELCOME TO COLLINWOOD (2002) ** Sam Rockwell, Michael Jeter, William H.
Macy, Jennifer Esposito, Isaiah Washington, Patricia Clarkson, Luis Guzman, Andrew Davoli, Gabrielle Union, George Clooney.
"Welcome to Collinwood" is a Hollywood remake of a very good and successful Italian comedy caper.
But this American version of the story doesn't compare to the 1958 caper comedy, "Big Deal on Madonna Street." The screenplay is weak, the cast and characters mostly fall short; and the comedy is mostly lame stuff.
For starters the reviews must have got their heist movies mixed up, the good one with George Clooney is called Oceans Eleven, got that?
So, it's up to you...the more serious movie buff to increase the status of this fun little movie a bit!!Welcome to Collinwood is a long way from being an original or innovating movie, but it contains enough refreshing and entertaining aspects to give you a good time.
Heck, the entire movie is worth watching if it were only for the small role by George Clooney!!
This is one of the movies I tend to like: no major/minor characters, but a real team work; all parts played by memorable distinguishable actors; no really good or really bad characters, no "black-and-white" approaches.
It is silly, but not far from stupid.The casting and acting was superb and everyone puts on good performances, but Michael Jeter as old man Toto was the star of the show and it is one of the most memorable performances I have seen.
George Clooney seems totally at home in this style of movie and was excellent too.If my film collection was burned and stolen, Welcome to Collinwood would be in my top 20 and always delivers a warm smile.9/10.
Before George Clooney directed Sam Rockwell in his directorial debut "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind", they starred together in this movie.
The movie that inspired it it's called "I soliti ignoti", it is a classic of Italian comedy, it was shot in 1958 by Mario Monicelli and it featured Vittorio Gassman, Renato Salvatori, Memmo Carotenuto (in the part here played by George Clooney), Carla Gravina, Marcello Mastroianni and the stunning Claudia Cardinale, who was 20 years old at the time...
George Clooney might be on the front cover, but his part is not big at all, he appears 2 or 3 times, but with the excellent acting abilities, and great humour, esp from Luis Guzmán, and his cracking 1 liner!
One wonders, therefore, why he should produce (under the banner of the Section Eight company he has with George Clooney) a remake of "Big Deal on Madonna Street", a film generally regarded as one of the great classic comedies, about how a crew of clumsy, incompetent losers take on the perfect heist.
The actors - a motley cast of some of Hollywood's finest character and supporting players, with full marks for Sam Rockwell, Luis Guzman, Michael Jeter and Isaiah Washington - are not at fault, since they're evidently having fun with the stylized neo-noir dialogue and relish the opportunity of playing a bunch of well-meaning but utterly dimwitted losers.
Macy, Luis Guzmán, George Clooney, Patricia Clarkson and Sam Rockwell among others, promised a good movie.
This is a remake of an Italian film which was re-made in America in the mid 1980s as Crackers which flopped at the box office but I found it funny.This low key period comedy heist film follows lowlife criminal (Luis Guzman )who learns of a 'bellini' in jail and plans to rob a safe.
George Clooney pops in a few times to give advice as to how they should crack a safe.The film has a Coen Brothers feel to it but it is an early effort by the Russo Brothers who have enjoyed great success with Captain America 2.It has an ensemble cast which includes William H Macy, Sam Rockwell and Michael Jeter but the film is just trying too hard to be smart or to be a cult film and it is a soufflé that fails to rise to the occasion..
If only this comedy "re-make" of the Italian "I soliti ignoti" were funnier ***** Welcome to Collinwood (2002) Anthony & Joe Russo ~ Sam Rockwell, Michael Jeter, George Clooney.
One left to go to the toilet and never came back, and one laughed her ass off from start to finish, I smirked a few times in the middle!The cast is good, but the whole story is lacking something.Don't go and see it if your intentions are George Clooney...
One left to go to the toilet and never came back, and one laughed her ass off from start to finish, I smirked a few times in the middle!The cast is good, but the whole story is lacking something.Don't go and see it if your intentions are George Clooney...
not many laughs at all as every joke in the movie has been done a million times before.it's a shame as all the actors in the film are great usually, but none of them really do much.
An uninspired, lackluster film with a good cast of character actors playing a motley bunch of hoodlums, "...Collinwood" relies on the kookiness of its characters and the quirkiness of its messy plot for comedy.
Five guys find out from a locked up inmate that there is money to be made from a robbery at an old building....But, things go hilariously wrong for the gang of misfits.The film does take a little while to build up and when it does pick up momentum it never ceases to stop with great comedic timing.The characters are all lovable in their own way, but when combined they create brilliant scenes, were you will be left breathless...The actual robbery itself is just hilarious, as the gang descend on the building, landing in a pool, trying to climb a ladder and losing Toto's pants!Sam Rockwell, however in my opinion; does a fantastic job portraying the individual who really wants the money as he schemes day and night on how to get the job done.
Macy just, well, sort of, gets a broken arm.What about George Clooney then, co-producer and lead actor (according to the DVD cover?) No. Not much sign of him either, because self-perceived auteur status aside, Clooney evidently had more to do in life than appear in stuff like this.So to get around the problem of being a Big Star playing a safe cracker in a movie about safe cracking but who can't actually spend any time doing any of that, Clooney stays in a wheel chair throughout the eight or so minutes of his filming commitment, and is thus conveniently excused from participating in the climactic safe cracking scene.
As far as screen writing goes though, that's like having Michael Caine leaving the original Italian Job to go open a grocer's shop in Oldham.Characters and scenes are not the only elements to vanish from, rather than being welcomed to, Collinwood.
Macy, Luis Guzman, Michael Jeter and Sam Rockwell present it had to be good.
He tells his girlfriend Rosalind (Patricia Clarkson) who tells Toto (Michael Jeter) and he tells...well, soon many people are involved like Pero (Sam Rockwell), Leon (Isaiah Washington), Riley (William H.
This film was directed by the Russo brothers Anthony and Joe and they do a good job of showing how run down the area of Collinwood is and the desperation of these assorted characters.
Produced by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh, this little crime caper with some good people in it sounded like an average film, and I had nothing else to do.