heineke I can always seem to tell how good a movie is going to be by the opening soundtrack music. This movie was no exception. I've heard better music on a Casio keyboard pre-programmmed. I watched this based the actors merit only. It was almost a complete waste of time. Only a movie with this thin of a plot could have as many holes. The funnest part of this movie was the word game played with the main character and his girlfriend. I've seen better. Too many to mention. I've seen worse. The only one that comes to mind is From Justin To Kelly. If you want to waste some time at 3 in the morning whilst madly drunk, be my guest. Otherwise, change the channel.

vchimpanzee Josh is turning 18 and hanging out with a bad crowd. They do drugs, drive recklessly and even steal from the U. S. Mail. His brother Walter has been gone for a while and he comes back hoping to make amends for leaving the family. Josh has what seems like a brother-sister relationship with Bella, but he really wants Emily, a cop who is several years older.Josh's parents died when he was very young, and he was adopted by the Minnells. Walter (who has gone back to his original name Schmeiss) knows the full story, which Josh has never heard, and what happened to them may explain why both brothers turned out the way they did. 'The Maker' is the one who makes the rules in a given situation. Josh has that opportunity when he helps Walter and Felice in their 'transfer and storage' business. I think of the pleasant character from 'What the Deaf Man Heard' when I think of Matthew Modine. However, he can play bad guys too, and he made Walter likable and not really evil. As a con artist, Walter had to be quite a good actor too. I thought most of the lead actors gave good performances. Still, the movie was quite dark at times, and somewhat violent toward the end. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers effectively showed a young man having to make important moral decisions as he reached a point where he could have gone down the wrong road.It was a worthwhile film, if you like this sort of thing.

mcman If ever I need to renew my enthusiasm about current filmmaking, a film featuring the talents of Mary Louise Parker is a pretty good place to start. Her part in this film is as a supporting character, and the few scenes in which she appears and fleshes out the kindly but down to earth police officer underline how this film's best parts unfortunately don't add up to a good movie.The leads are good (Rhys-Meyers is a talent to watch, Balk has always interested me and if Modine just sat and dribbled, I know he could make it look rivetting), the script contains some nice character exchanges, the camera work has some nice touches, and director Tim Hunter puts effort into giving the film some unexpected lift (such as sitting a crim at a desk on open ground beside an airport runway, and getting the art department to set up a backyard breakfast patio of white picket fence and red flowers under the threatening gaze of power lines.)But although it started well, in the end, this is too many good individual stories fighting with each other instead of making a coherent whole. Any one of the various plot lines could've held their own. At film's end, the script has to literally shoot its way out of the entwined mess its in to reach a conclusion. Maybe this goes down well on cable. I think a viewer, whether sitting in a cinema, or in his own home, is entitled to better.

HoTy This is a really decent flick. Interesting story, well written, and well done. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers will evolve as one of the biggest new stars in the next couple of years. Great actor, great looking, beaucoup screen presence and personality.