“Grosse Point Blank” meets “Trapped in Paradise” in director Harold Ramis’ sordid dramedy about a Christmas Eve swindle gone wrong in icy Wichita Falls, Kansas. John Cusack is the sleazy mob lawyer and Billy Bob Thornton the strip club owner who conspire to swipe $2 million from their boss (Randy Quaid, in a small yet memorable performance), only to be waylaid by inclement weather. The laughs aren’t as plentiful as expected considering the key players’ track records, with almost all of the yuckity-yuks coming courtesy of Oliver Platt’s drunken rabble-rouser. But the plot, familiar to anyone who’s ever seen a heist movie, contains enough tasty stuffing to satisfy, and the stellar cast certainly deliver the goods. Connie Nielsen is an absolute knock-out as the classic femme fatale.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 23, 2005. Read the original PDF.