one of my absolute favorites!

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

The worst thing about Knockaround Guys is simply that it's a star vehicle for Barry Pepper, which is another way of saying it has so much unfulfilled potential. It nicely blends a couple of intriguing concepts, starts strong, maintains that momentum up until the very end and is pretty much a text book example of how to take a great actor and make him effective in a supporting role. Unfortunately, the main impression left by the film is that they could have done so much more with this story and puzzlement at an ending that is not only pulled out of a camel's ass in terms of plot but is out of step emotionally with the nearly everything that came before it.Matty Demaret (Barry Pepper) is the son of a Brooklyn mobster (Dennis Hopper). Tested as a child and found wanting by his equally criminal uncle (John Malkovich), Matty's been left on the fringes of his father's world until after one too many failed job interviews where his name and heritage were held against him, Matty begs for another chance to become a genuine gangster. Given the assignment of picking up a bag of money on the other side of the country and getting it back to Brookley, Matty rounds up 3 friends to help him. There's Chris Scarpa (Andrew Davoli), another mobster's son burdened with an infamous name in legitimate society; Johnny Marbles (Seth Green), a ex-junkie and a pilot; and Taylor Reese (Vin Diesel), the only real hardcase of the group but whose Jewish heritage keeps him almost as much on the outside of the mob as Matty.Marbles picks up the bag but manages to lose it in the Montana town of Wibaux. That brings the other three friends running because if they don't get it back, a world of hurt will fall on everyone from Matty's dad on down. Things get more complicated when the bag falls into the hands of the corrupt local sheriff (Tom Noonan) and he decides that he's more than tough enough to take on 4 wannabe wiseguys. When Matty's uncle and his crew of killers come to town, however, things get very dark for the sheriff, Matty and everyone involved.At the heart of this story are two really good ideas. There's the contrast between Matty, someone not cut out for a life of crime but can't seem to escape it, and Taylor, someone perfectly suited to be a thug but who is arbitrarily excluded from that life. And then there's the switch in locales to Montana, where Matty goes from being a gangster's son with all that legacy weighing him down to being just another guy in a crisis where no one gives a damn who his father is. When Knockaround Guys focuses on those things, it's quite enjoyable.What's ultimately unfulfilling, though, is that the movie spends too much time getting sidetracked with distractions. Both the Marbles and Scarpa characters should have been eliminated from the script. The former is nothing more than a plot device played with too much humor by Seth Green and the latter is just a mirror of Matty's situation and every second spent retelling Matty's story with another character just takes time away from the Matty-Taylor dynamic. Those two characters are the heart of Knockaround Guys and while getting rid of the other two would have required some rejiggering, the more the story revolves around Matty and Taylor, the better it would have been.Then there's the ending, which has two major problems.1. It's really stupid.2. It pulls out a twist that is not just unnecessary, dramatically unsupported and overreaching, it spoils the film's central character arc. This story is first about Matty's struggle over whether or not to be a gangster and this twist forces a resolution on him instead of it being a natural product of the character evolution.I liked Knockaround Guys right up until the end. John Malkovich is fun and it's always fascinating to see stars like Vin Diesel before they get their big break, but a combination of neglected possibilities and a trying-too-hard conclusion keeps me from recommending it. If it happens to be on when you've got nothing better to do, it's an okay time waster. Just don't go out of your way to watch it.

The story is pretty simple. The son of a wiseguy trusted his friend to bring like 500.000 $ back from somewhere. But his friend, who was flying the plane got a little high on coke and got a little paranoid, so he placed the bag with the money somewhere while he had his plane refueled. Sadly the bag got on another plane by mistake and well.. He and his friends go to the Town the plane went to. I mean it has interesting characters played by great actors like Dennis Hopper, John Malkovich, Vin Diesel and finally Seth Green. The movie consists of a lot of profanity, a bit of drug use, a little bit of violence. (something for everyone).. Well and it's just light entertainment. You can't expect too much of this movie. The main problem is that the movie itself isn't sure what it wants to be. I mean, is it a comedy or a thriller or what? My final thought: Even though it's produced by Lawrence Bender (Tarantinos Producer), it is NOT a movie that inherits the qualities of most of his other producing ventures. But it is still watchable and a nice avocation so lets say 6/10

I rented some movies this weekend and "Knockaround Guys" was a risk rent I call it, I never heard of it and wasn't that interested. But I mean, what a promising cast: Seth Green, John Malkovich, Dennis Hopper, and Vin Deisel. Being here on IMDb, I noticed that there were a few put downs on the film, mostly feeling that there was a miscast. Especially with John, in some ways I agree, he just couldn't do a good Italian accent or wasn't too threatening. But what can I say? I love the guy too much! Being a more update mob movie taking place into today's society, I thought it was very interesting. Matty is the son of a very famous mobster, causing him to loose job opportunity after job opportunity because of his name. When he finally decides to join the family business with his friends, they have a little stumble transferring money that is owed to an under boss that can cause Matty's father's life. Together he and his friends must get that money back in the best way possible: The Godfather's way of doing things! This was a great action flick and no, it's not really a decent mob movie. But I did enjoy it, maybe I was just in a good mood, but I feel that this is a pretty under rated film that should be given another chance. We'll just have to forgive John, you know he does his best! 9/10

The plot isn't too complicated to understand. These "Knockaround Guys" are trying to find a bag of money. Big deal. The little details don't really matter. I wouldn't say it's horrible, but it sure isn't great either. I suppose you have to be in a type of mood to enjoy it.This movie definitely benefits from the outstanding cast and the great performances each actor gives for what they had to work with. It was enjoyable on that level, but I wouldn't recommend this to many people, because it isn't really worth watching unless you just want to watch it with your mind shut off. All the action is fun to watch, especially when Vin Diesel kicks the crap out of a guy in a bar. I give it a 5/10.