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November 30, 2012

‘Killing Them Softly' stylish, but tries a little too hard

By CHRISTY LEMIRE
AP Movie Critic

KILLING THEM SOFTLY

Director: Andrew Dominik

Cast: Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn

Rating: R

Running time: 97 minutes
Writer-director Andrew Dominik's “Killing Them Softly” is an incredibly stylish genre exercise set in the world of mobsters, junkies and lowlifes, but it's also trying incredibly hard to be About Something.

Not content merely to be profane, abrasive and occasionally, darkly amusing, it also wants to be relevant. And so Dominik has taken the 1974 crime novel “Cogan's Trade” by George V. Higgins and set it in the days before the 2008 presidential election, just as the U.S. economy is in the midst of catastrophic collapse. Every television and radio is tuned to then-candidate Barack Obama or President George W. Bush addressing the nation — even in bars and thugs' cars — with the volume cranked way up, commenting all-too obviously on the film's action.


 
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