DOUBLE WHAMMY
US, 2001, 90 minutes, Colour.
Dennis Leary, Steve Buscemi, Elizabeth Hurley, Luis Guzman, Victor Argo, Chris Noth.
Directed by Tom de Cillo.
Slight and light. Writer-director, Tom de Cillo, has a pleasant CV with offbeat comedies like Johnny Suede, Living in Oblivion (very funny on independent film-making), Box of Moonlight and The Real Blonde (very funny on the world of commercials). On this level, Double Whammy is probably the least and least satisfying of his films. The comic ideas are good but they go together in a somewhat inconsequential way.
What about a detective with a bad back which goes out just as a mass killer is machine-gunning customers in a take-away place - and a young boy gets to stop the murderer? What if the detective is at home sleeping when the super of his building is stabbed by two killers? Double Whammy for a loser cop - that's the verdict of the media and his boss. What if his sexually-confused partner recommended a chiropractor and the detective fell in love with her? And what about two would-be film-makers talking inanities as they do their screenplay with dreams of Sundance and Cannes? All good ideas, especially as it is the nice young daughter who has hired the hit-men to get rid of her father, the super.
The cast is good too. Denis Leary is far less sarcastic and frenetic than usual as the detective. Steve Buscemi does a nice turn as his partner. And Elizabeth Hurley is the chiropractor. It's just that it gels too loosely to be as punchy, funny and entertaining as it might have been.
1. The work of Tom de Cillo? Comedies, offbeat? His mocking, gently, of the film industry and film-making?
2. The New York settings, the apartments, the precincts, the streets, the river? New York as a character in the film? Musical score? Songs?
3. The credibility of the plot - for a comedy, parody, reality and fantasy?
4. The title, the experiences of Ray Pluto, his detective work, the opening and his going with his partner Jerry to the takeaway, the hold-up, his back going, falling unconscious, the young boy getting the gun and shooting the killer? The media reports, the news headlines, his boss and the condemnation? The media making a hero of the boy - on every television station? Ray and his character, his memories of his wife and child being killed in the hit-run accident (and this being visualised in his dream)? His friendship with his partner? His being put off duty until he was well again? Jerry persuading him to go to the chiropractor? His discovery that the chiropractor was a woman? The long sequences of his back being put in place? The attraction with Ann? The dates, going to the restaurant - and her complaint about the smoking, flicking the roll into the soup? The sexual encounter between them? His reaction, memory of his wife, the breakfast scene? His ringing and calling things off? Her being hurt?
5. Ray, in his apartment block, his friendship with Juan? His friendship with Maribel? The issue of the graffiti on the wall? The two young film-makers upstairs and friendship with them? The attack on Juan? His being called down - his being at home asleep? The newspaper headlines attacking him with the double whammy about his being a loser? The authorities down on him? His commander giving the case to his rival Dmitri? His not giving Dmitri the full information?
6. Audience knowledge of what was going on, the graffiti, Juan and his anger with his daughter, their arguments? His wife and her studies, the exam? Maribel at school, wanting to be with the other girls, going to the hit-men and a down-payment on her father's killing? Their attacking Juan with Ray while they were fishing at the river? Ray fighting back and hurting one of the killers? Their coming to the apartment block, stabbing Juan? The police, the investigation? Ray and his not suspecting Maribel, gradually realising what had happened? Going to the hospital? Maribel and her crying in the hospital?
7. The film-makers, the poking fun at the eccentricities of writing a bad police screenplay, the cliches, their acting it out? Their suits, ambition to go to the Cannes Film Festival and to Sundance? Their asking Ray to come up and discuss the plot, their tying him up, the killers and their thinking that they had been seen by the film-makers? The attack, Ray getting loose, bumping one of the killers out the window, the knife and the darts (as discussed in the screenplay)? The final fight, the death of the other killer? Ray becoming a hero?
8. Jerry, good friend to Ray, living alone, continually worried, his discussion about his sexual fantasies and worry about his orientation? The contrast with Dmitri and his self-assurance? The commander, his being down on Ray, Ray's final promotion, the mayor's phone call, the ceremony and Ray's promotion?
9. Ann, her work, her secretary, the relationship with Ray, her being hurt when it was broken off? Not answering his calls, finally going to the river? The bonds between the two?
10. The presentation of the New York police force, as in crime films, with the comic touch?
11. The romantic and humorous combination of a double whammy loser policeman, his partner, rivalries, murder in the apartment blocks, vengeful teenage daughters against their father (but his recovery)? The world of the chiropractor? A slight but enjoyable film?
