First Hit: Pretty much a waste of time.
This film was lifeless from the beginning. Mos Def playing Ordell Robbie (as Yasiin Bey) has a smile and attitude that belie his role, kidnapper.
Yes it was supposed to be a comedy but it wasn’t funny and his sly grin didn’t make it so. Mickey Dawson (Jennifer Aniston) was the person Ordell and Louis (John Hawkes) were going to kidnap. Why her? Her husband Frank (Tim Robbins) was stealing money from the city of Detroit and putting it in an offshore account. They believed he loved his wife and by kidnapping her they could extract the money from him.
What they didn’t know was that Frank was in the process of divorcing Mickey so he didn’t care that she was kidnapped. Frank was also having an affair with Melanie (Isla Fisher) with whom he wanted to marry just as soon as his divorce was settled. With a few mishaps; like a double cross, some misgivings, and newly found freedom, the audience was expected to be engaged with the characters I found it hard to care about any of them, let alone the story.
Aniston is a good actress, however her entire performance here seemed pained and phoned it. It was like she didn’t want to be there. Def was fun to watch but he seemed miscast or the film forgot it was supposed to funny as well. Hawkes was OK but again, when a film doesn’t work it is hard for actors to perform well. Robbins was OK but seemed to carry a level of aloofness throughout. Fisher was the best part of the film. She was really trying to make something of her character. Daniel Schechter wrote and directed this and it appears he’s got work to do to make a film that works because this one didn’t.
Overall: This film just never clicked and didn’t work.