Review of Welcome to Collinwood (2002) by Gavin P — 28 Apr 2014

Written and directed by Anthony and Joe Russo (You, Me and Dupree (2006) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)), this is an Italian film called I soliti ignoti (1958), directed by Mario Monicelli.

It's like a lighter-hearted version of Fargo (1996), with a bunch of criminals who don't have a brain cell between them. It is a very funny film, and it has a brilliant little ensemble cast all closely knit together here.

In Cleveland, imprisoned small time crook Cosimo (Luis Guzmán) has a plan for a perfect heist, known as a Bellini, To do it, he calls upon his partner in crime Toto (Michael Jeter) to put together a team of criminals to pull off the perfect heist, which involves cracking into a safe belonging to a jewelry store owner by using the apartment next door to break into the store.

The team consists of boxer Pero (Sam Rockwell), struggling father Riley (William H. Macy) and small time crooks Basil (Andrew Davoli) and Leon (Isaiah Washington) to do it. They get help from Cosimo's girlfriend Rosalind (Patricia Clarkson) and safe-cracker Jerzy (George Clooney), but nothing goes to plan.

It's a very silly comedy, but there are some good laughs to be had along the way, and it has a brilliant little ensemble at it's heart. It does have an old world feel to it, and Cleveland seems to be a city lost in time, and it does look and feel old fashioned.

Once things start going wrong for the team, it gets funny.