Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Palookaville (1995)
Director: Alan Taylor
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Russ, Sid and Jerry are at wit's end: they're broke, unemployed, and prepared to turn a blind eye to legal niceties. Yet burglary may not be for them. They over-shoot the local jewellery store and break into the pastry shop next door - a sticky situation, especially for Russ, whose brother-in-law's a cop. An armoured car robbery suggests itself, if only they can work up the necessary gumption, but these guys may be too good to be bad - or just too bad at being bad. A gentle comic fable, this follows the trials of three not-so wiseguys and finds them fundamentally innocent. It's hardly an original idea - that criminal negligence can be funny - but Taylor, his screenwriter David Epstein and a winning cast headed by Gallo (Russ), Trese (Jerry) and Forsythe (Sid) find a fresh angle on it, fruitfully exploiting the discrepancy between a macho gun culture and the impotence of these men's lives. The film makes time for a handful of delicious, delicately observed comic digressions; and Taylor captures an eloquent slice of New Jersey lowlife: Springsteen with laughs. All very nice. But Gallo's charged, explosive presence spikes the punch - he gives the whimsy some kick.Author: TCh
Cast & crew
Director: Alan Taylor
Producer: Uberto Pasolini
Cast: William Forsythe, Vincent Gallo, Adam Trese, Gareth Williams, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Bridgit Ryan, Kim Dickens, Frances McDormand full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 92 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now