John Travolta plays Russ Richards, a TV weatherman whose sideline business in snow ploughs is failing due to an unseasonably hot winter. In a desperate bid to make money, Russ and his money-grabbing girlfriend Crystal (Lisa Kudrow) team up with their friend, strip-club owner Gig (Tim Roth) to rig the lottery. Naturally enough, things go wrong and the whole plan starts to unravel with Russ digging himself into ever deeper holes to try and carry the scam off.
This film got pretty slated by critics when it came out with Travolta winning a Razzie Award for worst actor. Well – it’s true that he doesn’t exactly have much range (his terrific performance in Pulp Fiction was a fluke in my completely unqualified opinion), but honestly I didn’t think he was too bad. And the supporting cast is excellent – Kudrow is terrific as the cold-hearted Crystal, Ed O’Neill is great as Russ’s boss at the TV station who tries to turn the situation to his own advantage, the always great Richard Schiff has a very short but memorable appearance as a bookie, and Michael Rapaport is very funny as a completely incompetent hit-man. Michael Moore pops up as the guy who Russ and Crystal try and embroil into the scheme (with a surprising result) and for a non-actor, he does a very good job. However, it is Tim Roth who unsurprisingly steals every scene he is in. After watching him in a number of things recently, Tim Roth is officially my favourite actor, and his performance here is an absolute delight. He is by far the most likeable character, seedy and of dubious moral character as he may be.
The story rattles along nicely, with mishap upon misdemeanour, and there are plenty of laughs along the way, not to mention a few ‘Wow, didn’t see that coming’ moments.
Don’t listen to the critics – if you want an undemanding, amusing black comedy, give this a try – it certainly put a smile on my face!
Year of release: 2000
Director: Nora Ephron
Producers: G. Mac Brown, Sean Daniel, Nora Ephron, Jonathan D Krane, Andrew Lazar, Anson Downes, Linda Favila, Jody Hedien, Donald J. Lee Jr.
Writer: Andrew Resnick
Main cast: John Travolta, Lisa Kudrow, Tim Roth, Ed O’Neill, Michael Rapaport, Bill Pullman, Michael Moore
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