Smokin' Aces A Movie Review	MPAA Rated - R It's 1:48 Long A Review by The Dude on the Right

I was really liking "Smokin’ Aces" and the initial direction it was taking, until, well, they took the fun out of the movie. I’ll try to explain without giving too much away. Here we go…

Mob boss Primo Sparazza (Joseph Ruskin) is on his way to his deathbed, and in overhearing a phone call he makes, the FBI, led by agents Carruthers (Ray Liotta) and Messner (Ryan Reynolds), believes there is now a $1 Million bounty on the head of friend of the mob turned informant, Buddy "Aces" Isreal (Jeremy Piven), a famous magician/entertainer in Las Vegas. Buddy, meanwhile, is hiding out in Lake Tahoe, while his deal with the feds gets finalized. Well, word gets out about the bounty, and now the best assassins in the world and a bounty hunter (seems Buddy has skipped out on his bail) are on the hunt for Buddy. Yup, you get The Tremor Brothers, a trio of lunatics who like heavy metal, smoke, and chainsaws. Then you get the duo of Sykes (Alicia Keys – showing she might also have a movie career ahead of her) and Watters (Taraji P. Henson) who like to use technology and superb firepower to take out their victims. Also on the trail is Pasquale (Nestor Carbonell) who has a penchant for stabbing and master of disguise Lazlo (Tommy Flanagan). On the bounty side is Ben Affleck as Jack.

So you’ve got all these people converging on Lake Tahoe, and as the movie progresses it pretty much is looking like all of the assassins were going to keep getting in the way of the other assassins, especially since they were so over-the-top in their mannerisms, and somehow Buddy would come out unscathed. And "Smokin’ Aces" was fun at this point, with some quality kills, some blatant nudity, and wacky characters (one of The Tremor Brothers interaction with Jack the bounty hunter is hilarious). Then the movie took a dark turn as there is a secret revealed, things aren’t what they seem, and even though we have a quality chainsaw/gun fight, the movie lost its funness and just became stupid, and in saying anything more I’ll probably give too much away, so I’ll stop right now.

I really would like to give this movie a better star rating than I’m going to because there was so much too like in the film. Jeremy Piven was great in his role as Buddy, stuck between a rock and a hard place as he starts to totally realize he will have to give up his glamorous lifestyle to a life in the witness protection program. In a movie filled with lots of violence, who wouldn’t like the total bizarreness of The Tremor Brothers, and like I said before, Alicia Keys, in a role that doesn’t stereotype her as a hired assassin, did great. And finally, Ryan Reynolds is doing a good job at shedding his "Van Wilder" image, even though his character becomes slightly annoying towards the end of the film. But because the movie didn’t stick with what I thought would be the logical conclusion, thus ruining my good time in the theater, I’ve got to only give "Smokin’ Aces" 2 stars out of 5, even with the gratuitous violence and nudity. It should make for a good rental, and definitely a cable viewing, but that’s about it for me.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!