Review of Killing Them Softly (2012) by Allan C — 03 Feb 2015

Nicely nasty crime film about two losers, Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn, who hold up a mob card game run. Brad Pitt is something of a bagman/fixer who is supposed to get to the bottom of things. Ray Liotta plays the guy who runs the card game.

Richard Jenkins is great as always, playing a mealy mouthed middle man for the mob higher-ups and directing Pitt, who from the beginning knows what should happen if those in power would just listen. James Gandolfini is here and is terrific as a past him prime hitman, wallowing in booze and broads.

This is all set against the 2003 presidential election, which makes for some unnecessarily heavy handed metaphor that nearly ruins the fun of the film. A few subtle hints about power, money and politics would have been plenty, but instead the audience is bombarded with political posters, numerous campaign speeches, presidential addresses and other political nonsense.

Despite that, the performances in this film crackle and the story is clever enough to carry the day, making this a crime film well worth watching.