Review of Smokin' Aces (2006) by Jimmyb. — 13 Feb 2007

To simply state that it is just a Jeremy Piven movie is to be sorely mistaken. There was a great all-around cast, yet there was no central storytelling focus. Piven was indeed the best character in the movie, but Jason Bateman was phenomenal as the drunken lawyer, Ben Affleck as the dopey, bail bondsman with a southern accent, and the hit men were all central in making the movie go ballistic.

However, Piven, not Ryan Reynolds, held the movie together for most of the movie, and without him, the story lost focus and tried to be too emotional. But by then, you could care less, especially when you learn that the joke was on us all along, for thinking that it is a real gangsta' movie.

What it was in return, were nuggets of good, solid, golden acting from all of the cast, not just Piven. And while Piven did a great job, and the story should've surrounded his character, it wasn't too different from Entourage's version of Ari Gold (which is an awesome show, by the way, you should watch it, way better than this film)--nor was I surprised by his brilliant acting--but it adds to Piven's resume and versatility as one of the best supporting actors that should have his own movie some day without the directors or writers getting in the way, because he is just that good.

Smokin' Aces, however, falls just short of being a great movie, just a mindless action movie that attempts at a successful plot, but falls just short of it.