The new Russell Crowe crime movie needs some more bullets.
Important distinction: try not to get “The Get Out” confused” with “Get Out.” When you ask someone, I would advise you say: “Have you heard of the new Russell Crowe crime movie?” or “Didn’t you see “Get Out?” It’s been nearly a decade since it came out.”
“The Get Out” is Russell Crowe’s new crime movie that likes to fool around, have some attitude, and throw a lot at the audience. He’s no stranger to the genre as wisely demonstrated in “LA Confidential” or “American Gangster,” and I guess he wants to have the same kind of goofy appeal as in “The Nice Guys.” But the movie itself has too much in the plot and not enough of the energy to thrive on it.
Crowe plays Manco Kapak, an Albanian night club owner, who has connections with the cartel, and suffers from a cardiac arrest after using twice as much viagra to make love to his much younger girlfriend Sunny (Teresa Palmer). He even thinks smoking Cuban cigars aren’t the same as smoking. Although, I don’t know why since a cigar is a cigar. His only recourse is to retire from the club, sell it to a mysterious newcomer (Luke Evans), and relocate somewhere else. Somewhere with less stress and less extravagance.
One day, he gets robbed by a masked man (it’s see-through, so we know it’s Aaron Paul), who is a “rule follower” named Jeff and is working for a shady cop (Josh McConville) trying to put his son through college. It’s one thing for him to write essays for students as a side profession. It’s quite another to have an eager “Point Break” fan (Nina Debrov) join him in jacking Manco once again, and then stupidly betting all of it on roulette. And given their president rubber masks, she announces them as “The Ex-Presidents.” Now, as stylish as it looks, it seems a bit too whiny and annoying to have Paul and Debrov seem like comic relief characters. I’m not even sure if they are supposed to be comic relief characters at this point.
I think we can agree that it’s going to take a lot for Manco to find his peaceful oasis, because he ends up in danger with the cartel (with Daniel Zovatto playing the young head) and thieves. Amazingly enough, this movie doesn’t give him another cardiac arrest or stress us out about his stress. He just gets back in the game before he can officially retire, so I guess this movie doesn’t really care about his medical condition.
“The Get Out” was directed by Derrick Borte, who previously guided Crowe as an angry driver in “Unhinged.” That film was a lousy and cynical piece of crap. This one is a slight improvement because of how he uses the Oscar winning actor to help lampoon the crime genre a bit. but he doesn’t have the kind of story to elevate it (he co-wrote it with Daniel Forte, and both of them based it on Thomas Perry’s novel “Strip”). And Crowe is so likable in the role and the Albanian accent, he should be thinking that he deserves a better screenplay. In fact, I was thinking of an earlier “Simpsons” joke, when Homer was told he would be housing an Albanian child and responds: “You mean all white with pink eyes?.”
We need crime movies to have a certain Tarantino vibe and have major stars leveling the playing field a bit. They can be honest and funny, while having a strong sense of consistency. But “The Get Out” needs to study the genre formula a little further, and add some extra ammo while it’s at it.
