Smokin’ Aces

What now?

Smokin’ Aces (oh and that missing ‘g’ is so annoying) is well, if not THE worse, then certainly the worse film I’ve seen in a long long time. I mean I wasn’t expecting some art-flick masterpiece but, given the trailer I’d seen I was hoping for at least a fun romp. But it’s just a mess and not even a glorious mess. A pastiche of half a dozen other films it miss-fires on all levels.

There’s this bloke, Buddy Israel who was originally a magician but got mixed up with the mob. Now he’s planning to turn stool pigeon and the big crime-boss wants him dead, and what seems like about a hundred assassins are out to get him. On the other side, trying to protect him are a group of FBI agents led by Ray Liotta who seems to be mentally counting his pay-cheque in every scene and some bail-bondsman led by a smug under-performing Ben Affleck. They all end up bumping into each other in, not actually in Las Vegas, but it may as well be, hotel.