2008 Woodie Awards
'Lucky Number Sleven:' Both a Comedy and Gangster Noir
Kimberly Niedzwiedz
Issue date: 4/20/06 Section: Arts
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Ever hear of a thing called the Kansas City Shuffle? No, I didn't think so. What it is, you see, is a trick on the eyes and mind. What you do is to get everybody to pay attention to the right, while you do something mischievous and slip out to the left. Sneaky, isn't it? This idea of the Kansas City Shuffle is pretty much the whole premise of "Lucky Number Sleven." The artsy directing of Paul McGuigan actually pulls it off: not an easy feat when you consider the Tarantino-esque script of flashbacks.
The film is essentially about good ol' fashioned revenge. Here's a run-down of the basics: The Boss (Morgan Freeman) and the Rabbi (Sir Ben Kingsley) are two feuding gangsters who pick on Sleven (Josh Hartnett) to do their dirty work against each other. The only problem is that they think Sleven is some loser called Nick Fischer, so Sleven is royally, shall we say, screwed. Lindsey (Lucy Liu), Nick's neighbor, plays detective and tries to help Sleven. And some really intimidating guy called Goodkat (Bruce Willis) is thrown in the mix too.
I had high hopes with such an all-star cast, and I was not disappointed. There is not much to say about the heavy weights of Freeman, Kingsley and Willis that you haven't heard before. The two delights of Sleven were the young'uns: Lucy Liu and Josh Hartnett. Lucy Liu's Lindsey is a wannabe Columbo with Jessica Simpson's personality. She's quite the conundrum but makes herself loveable to the audience, and is barely annoying even though most of her jokes fall flat. Sleven suffers from a disease that doesn't allow him to worry, giving him a smart mouth which gets him into trouble but also provides us with some funny moments, carrying most of the cast on that end. Josh Hartnett's ease at sarcasm and his dry delivery allow us to genuinely like Sleven, but at the same time it distances us from all the murder that's going on. Hey, if he's not worrying about it, why should we?
The film has all the makings of a good film noir: the plot is all over the place, there's a lot of seemingly nonsensical killing and there is a good twist ending. It's the kind of film you try to figure out before you reach the end, and it is only slightly predictable. Even if you figure some things out, the end is still exciting.
The film and its premise are quite dark, but the bright cinematography and nonchalance of the characters give it lightheartedness. The only real problem that I had with "Lucky Number Sleven" is that it seems to want to be the kind of movie that bridges the gap between the film noir, gangster and comedy genres in the tradition of "Get Shorty." The film quickly finds its footing, and I realized that this is not the kind of film that you really can label. "Lucky Number Sleven" stands out on its own as a thriller with film noir influences and is sprinkled with humor to keep the movie more than entertaining. Why be identified as one or the other? Because then you're forced to be limited. As the Rabbi says, "When you live on both sides of the fence, the grass is always green."
The film is essentially about good ol' fashioned revenge. Here's a run-down of the basics: The Boss (Morgan Freeman) and the Rabbi (Sir Ben Kingsley) are two feuding gangsters who pick on Sleven (Josh Hartnett) to do their dirty work against each other. The only problem is that they think Sleven is some loser called Nick Fischer, so Sleven is royally, shall we say, screwed. Lindsey (Lucy Liu), Nick's neighbor, plays detective and tries to help Sleven. And some really intimidating guy called Goodkat (Bruce Willis) is thrown in the mix too.
I had high hopes with such an all-star cast, and I was not disappointed. There is not much to say about the heavy weights of Freeman, Kingsley and Willis that you haven't heard before. The two delights of Sleven were the young'uns: Lucy Liu and Josh Hartnett. Lucy Liu's Lindsey is a wannabe Columbo with Jessica Simpson's personality. She's quite the conundrum but makes herself loveable to the audience, and is barely annoying even though most of her jokes fall flat. Sleven suffers from a disease that doesn't allow him to worry, giving him a smart mouth which gets him into trouble but also provides us with some funny moments, carrying most of the cast on that end. Josh Hartnett's ease at sarcasm and his dry delivery allow us to genuinely like Sleven, but at the same time it distances us from all the murder that's going on. Hey, if he's not worrying about it, why should we?
The film has all the makings of a good film noir: the plot is all over the place, there's a lot of seemingly nonsensical killing and there is a good twist ending. It's the kind of film you try to figure out before you reach the end, and it is only slightly predictable. Even if you figure some things out, the end is still exciting.
The film and its premise are quite dark, but the bright cinematography and nonchalance of the characters give it lightheartedness. The only real problem that I had with "Lucky Number Sleven" is that it seems to want to be the kind of movie that bridges the gap between the film noir, gangster and comedy genres in the tradition of "Get Shorty." The film quickly finds its footing, and I realized that this is not the kind of film that you really can label. "Lucky Number Sleven" stands out on its own as a thriller with film noir influences and is sprinkled with humor to keep the movie more than entertaining. Why be identified as one or the other? Because then you're forced to be limited. As the Rabbi says, "When you live on both sides of the fence, the grass is always green."
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