“Running Scared” (New Line Cinema)
Moving At The Speed Of Entertainment
In 1998 there was a movie called “Very Bad Things.” It was dark, violent, quirky and profane. Most people hated it, but I loved it. I loved it for all the reasons other people hated it. Now along comes “Running Scared,” another movie that I should dislike intently. It breaks my cardinal rules of being acceptable entertainment by being gratuitously profane, and by involving children in profane and violent situations. Once again, for some inexplicable reason, I love this film.
Paul Walker is the star of this movie. He plays a man named Joey Gazelle. When the movie opens Joey and some of his friends are doing a drug deal. Suddenly masked guys break into the room and a bloodbath ensues. Joey and his guys come out on top. On the way home one of his buddies tells him to get rid of the guns they used.
Joey stashes the guns in his cellar. His young son Nicky (Alex Neuberger) and his best friend Oleg (Cameron Bright) see him hide the gins. Later Oleg steals one of the guns and uses it to shoot his stepfather, a brutal man who is beating up Oleg’s mother. Oleg runs out of his house and takes the gun with him. Joey needs the gun back so that it will not be traced to him and to the earlier shooting.
Things in this movie go to hell in a hand basket quickly. And just when you think something is going to go right, it goes definitely wrong. Each twist in the plot adds one more link to the riddle of why all this is happening. In the end everything is explained and if you have already figured it out, you are a better plot solver than I am.
Walker is excellent in the role of Joey. He is the star of the movie and most of the success or failure of the film rests on his shoulders. What doesn’t rest with him rests with Cameron Bright, who gives one of the best performances by a youngster I have seen in years. Vera Farmiga is also brilliant as Joey’s wife Teresa. In truth there isn’t a weak performance in the movie.
Wayne Kramer wrote the screenplay and also directed the film. A couple of years ago he gave us “The Cooler,” another quirky movie but not on the level of this film. This is the quirkiest, darkest entertainment I have seen well since “Very Bad Things.”
The film is rated R for much violence; much, much profanity; and much nudity. This is definitely not a movie for kids or for adults who are easily shocked.
If you want to see a movie that is fresh and innovative in its story, beautifully acted by a mostly unknown cast, and shockingly graphic in its violence, profanity and nudity; then by all means take in a showing of this film. There is so much going on during the length of this movie that I am going to have to see it again. I think you will feel the same way.
And if you do like it, tell a friend. This is a movie that needs word of mouth to grow.
I scored “Running Scared” a tireless 8 out of 10.
