Slevin Up

Lucky Number Slevin is a slick piece of work. It starts with a story - Bruce Willis is talking to a young dude in an airport. The story is full of colorful patois and streetwise wisdom: It's about a nobbler from Belgium who's running a drugstore handicap, which all leads up to the Kansas City Shuffle ("Where everybody looks right and you go left"). So we know we are in a movie about stories, a movie that is intoxicated by language and lingo.

The story is told in flashback - a confusion of horserace and violence, mostly people dying in creative ways. It doesn't make much sense, but we know it will be important later. Then we come to the main section of the movie.

Josh Hartnett is shaving in a New York apartment when Lucy Liu bursts through the door to borrow a cup of sugar (not just "sugar", she doesn't have a cup, either). Josh tells his story - he is a guy named Slevin, staying with the apartment's owner, but the owner didn't show up. Slevin has had some bad luck, lost his job, found his girl in bed with a friend, gotten mugged and lost his wallet. But meeting Ms. Liu has livened his day up a little.

But when she leaves, some thugs come in, because the owner of the apartment owes the Boss some money. Slevin gets beat up, threatened and ordered to kill the son of an crimelord, the Rabbi (Ben Kingsley with an awesome Brooklyn accent). And the game is afoot.

The game is a sort of combo Guy Richie/Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - hyper-violence, cute situations and slick patter. For example, Slevin has a broken nose. When he mouths off to the Boss (Morgan Freedman! Awesome!) says, "That mouth got you that nose." If only mobsters talked like that.

There are lots of allusions to other movies, like the James Bond series. Some might contain clues, like the reference to North by Northwest. Maybe not, though.

I liked Lucy Liu a lot here. She plays the spunky girlfriend, technically known as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl: the stereotype who shakes the stodgy guy out of his rut by being all unconventional and awesome. Slevin's reaction to this is pretty much "Whatever", because he is not that guy. It's fun to see this convention ignored. I also like that she doesn't just drop everything to start sleuthing. She still has to go to work. Shows responsibility.

Finally, the plot: twisty. I don't think anyone will figure it out, because it doesn't make any sense. The movie also cheats - leaves out important details. So just lay back and enjoy the ride.