Day 72 -- Knucklehead

Released: October 27th, 2010
     
Starring: Paul Wight, Mark Feuerstein, Melora Hardin, Dennis Farina, Will Patton
 
Writer/Director: Bear Aderhold, Tom Sullivan and Adam Rifkin/Michael W. Watkins

Description: Drowning in gambling debts to his bookie, Memphis (Dennis Farina), former mixed martial arts champ Eddie (Mark Feuerstein) starts training gentle giant Walter (The Big Show) for a high-stakes fighting competition with a $100,000 grand prize that would solve all of their problems.

[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]

***

When a movie is full of character actors and no real stars, the film is going to be missing something. It's has nothing to do with the talent of the actors in the movie, but rather the lack of talent in the main role. A supporting actor is like a foundation, they are useless without a something for them to support; no matter how strong they are no one will notice them.

"Knucklehead" looks like a good comedy if you just read the call sheet. Between Dennis Farina, Melora Hardin and Will Patton there's enough comedic talent to produce a decent film. As I said, the failing of this movie is the casting of Paul Wight, aka WWE superstar the Big Show, and his inability to deliver a line without it looking forced. Just like in "They Live", I was surprised by this lack of line reading from a professional wrestler.

The plot of the movie was as generic as it gets, and is reminiscent of "Kingpin". Mostly in the sense that a down and out former "athlete" finds a person with a hidden talent that will help him reclaim his glory, but along the way finds out that it's more than fame and money; instead of the Amish, it's an 35-year-old guy in a Catholic children's home. In "Knucklehead",  Eddie (Feuerstein) finds himself in mounting gambling debt and needs a new fighter to win money for him.

Enter an overgrown child named Walter (Wight).

The role was perfectly suited for him from everything I'd seen him in before, especially his appearances on SNL. But somewhere there was a disconnect between Wight and Walter. It's a perfect example of how nuanced good acting is, and how playing a character like yourself in a movie is the hardest thing to do unless you Matthew McConaughey in "Dazed and Confused". Usually when an actor attempts this, he/she gets into their own head and loses any performance instincts they possess. Unfortunately because of this, he drags the entire movie down.

The plot looks more like a bunch of ideas loosely tied together. I imagine that the writers (Yes, there's three writer on this script) sat in a room and were like, 'well, what if he does this? Oh, that's good. Then, he can do that. Yeah, this is gold', and completely forgot to make a compelling story. It's like a collection of sketches, not a full movie script. It was probably fun to make, but it's torture to watch.

"Knucklehead" had a lot of advantages going for it, and failed to use any of them effectively. But I expect nothing less from a WWE produced film. This was mainly a showcase for Paul Wight, and he failed to breakout like Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) did in "Scorpion King" and "Be Cool". Fans of pro wrestling will probably enjoy it, but there no other section of the population that will find it worth their time.

Rating: 3/10 -- Generic storyline with no real drama or compelling conflict. Everything is very superficial. Had to watch "Get Shorty" to remember that Denis Farina made a good movie.

Day 37 -- Striking Distance

Released: September 17th, 1993

Starring: Bruce Willis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Farina, Tom Siezmore, Robert Pastorelli

Writer/Director: Rowdy Herrington and Marty Kaplan/Rowdy Herrington

Description: Coming from a police family, Tom Hardy ends up fighting his uncle after the murder of his father. Tom believes the killer is another cop, and goes on the record with his allegations. Demoted then to river duty, the killer taunts Tom.

[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]

***

Ah, when Bruce Willis was a legitimate action star. For those too young to remember, Mr. Willis at one time was hired to play these roles, not be an over-acting parody of them. Most notably starring in the two greatest Christmas films of our generation, Die Hard and Die Hard 2.

"Striking Distance" is a forgotten "gem" from the early 90s that had one of the most ridiculous twist at the end. Willis stars as Det. Tom Hardy, who is investigating the Polish Hill Strangler murders, while also being the key witness in his partner and cousin's (Really?) police brutality trail. Prior to the policeman's ball and after the conviction of his cousin, Jimmy Detillo (Pastorelli), Hardy's father is killed following a high speed chase with the Strangler. Hardy's insistence that the killer was a cop and not the man they arrested for the crime, coupled with the suicide of Jimmy, earns him a demotion to "river duty". 

For most people, that explanation of the early plot doesn't ring a bell, but mention it's the movie where Willis plays a boat cop, and every one suddenly remembers. To be honest, that's all that should be remembered about this film. Just like "Twisted" before it, this movie -- despite being older -- follows the same cliches as every other film of the genre. Lone wolf detective tries to investigate a crime that every one else believes was committed by someone else, and when they discover the truth, it is a twist that they never saw coming. In "Striking Distance's" case, the twist was that the cousin wasn't dead, but he was indeed, the Strangler himself. Oh, no, they couldn't stop themselves there, Jimmy's father, Nick Detillo (Farina) killed Hardy's father to cover up his son's crime.

The writers not only had one twist ending, but two (three if you count Parker's IAB double agent/Hardy's lover storyline) that are ridiculous and never explained. But what can you expect from a writing team named Rowdy and Marty, I mean seriously, the only person who should call themselves "Rowdy" is Roddy Piper. And no surprise that "Rowdy" also directed "Road House", which is just as ridiculous as this film. I'm sure I'll find a lot of these, but once again it looks like the writers just went by a template and filled in blanks for character name, location and dialogue. Every action piece and investigation scene was straight out of every law enforcement movie ever made. 

Willis didn't help matters either as he played a sadder version of John McClane, and casting Parker as his love interest didn't do the film any favors. The acting overall was average, and very much monotone, except for the freak out by Danny Detillo (Sizemore) at the police party. It was a border paycheck performance for most of the actors involved.

"Striking Distance" will be remembered for one thing and one thing only: It's the movie about boat cops. No matter how small a part the actual river duty played in the movie, that will always be the lasting memory of the film. And one final plea, stop casting Parker as a romantic lead, no one finds her remotely sexy -- even Matthew Broderick.

Rating: 5/10 -- Should only be sought out if you have an obsession to watch every Bruce Willis film ever made, or you were doing some crazy project where you were watching a movie a day, but who would do that? Nothing really off putting about it, but it would be a last resort on a lazy Sunday afternoon.