one of my absolute favorites!

Good concept, poorly executed.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This movie is mainly about three mature men who are bookies partners and Leon (John Turturro),a little slow guy, who gets involved with them to win a lot of money to help a friend who is going through a bad time, but things are going to get complicated.I didn't like "Lesser Prophets". I think the biggest mistake was giving to much time to the character of Leon, whom i found annoying. I would have given much more time to the three bookies whom I found very entertaining, specially Jerry who is the leader one. In this bad movie the only one who really shines is George DiCenzo's performance as Jerry, he should play in a mafia movie, he would be great.I wouldn't recommend anyone to watch this movie.

There are so many gangster movies out there. It is hard to tell sometimes if a gangster movie is really trying to say something new or if they are just trying to work some new angle. Well this time, we have a bunch of small time bookies trying to ply their trade and some simple minded street geek who crosses their path. It gets complicated and it's hard to say why, but it doesn't matter because we are never asked to imagine that we are watching Charles Dickens or anything. There are some interesting characters and odd subplots and it all hangs to together in a generally pleasing way. Everything seems to happen inside and so the appeal is the characters. Another strange gangster movie that comes to mind by comparison is "Ghost Dog" that features some fantastic outdoor scenes that are worth seeing all by themselves even if you ignored the strange plot.

PLOT: Three low-level Bookmakers are looking for a quick fix to get out of some hot water with a local "dick" who is after them to reclaim money that his brother took from him and subsequently lost gambling. The bookies take "a tip" from a sympathetic freak, and all hell breaks loose.I rented this movie because the cast looked amazing, and it didn't disappoint. The plot line seems at times a bit dis-junct, but even when the story slows down, it opens up room for some brilliant performances. John Turturro is rarely seen at this level....a cross between the "wired / freaky" guy he plays in the Coen Bros films, but here he displays a sympathy that is rarely seen in this kind of character. The bookies are headed off by George DiCenzo, who almost steals the movie....Michael Badaluco (recently on "The Practice") and John Spencer round out the trio. In a scene that makes the film, Jimmy Smits is great in a cameo as a gambler who can't pay. Scott Glenn takes yet another turn as the cop who seeks retribution.There are few gambling-mafia- type movies that offer a sincerely comical look at the world of low-level wise guys (without avoiding the cliche's that you find in almost every knock off of a Scorsese film) this film manages to pull it off, and is at times very funny in the process.

This is a perfect case of a fairly decent script being ruined by an amateurish director. Devizia had great actors and still managed to make them look bad. Though the actors are a talented bunch, it seems that the casting people and Devizia were just so thrilled to be actually making a movie, that they put the wrong actors in the wrong roles. Paul Diomede, the only shining light as a character in this film was also the screenwriter.