Criminal Activities (2015)

Some things I liked some I did not.

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Directed by Jackie Earle Haley, "Criminal Activities" from 2015 is about four high school friends - Zack, Noah, Warren, and Bryce (Michael Pitt, Dan Stevens, Rob Brown, Christopher Abbott, who meet up after the funeral of their friend Matthew. Warren tells them about a stock that's about to go up - he has insider trading info - and the agent who has been stockpiling the stock is getting nervous about being caught and needs to dump his shares. He wants $200,000. Noah says he can get it. The stock tanks and wipes out the investment. Unfortunately, Noah neglected to tell him the money came from a mobster, Eddie (John Travolta) and he wants repayment of $400,000 - accrued interest. He will wipe the slate clean if they will help him with a problem he's having - kidnap the brother of the man who kidnapped his niece so that he can get her back.Boy could this have been better. It's a complicated story, and a good one, but the script and direction aren't strong enough to carry it. It's similar to many other films of today with its surprises, but at the end of the film I was left confused about certain money issues. There is an homage to Pulp Fiction with the presence of Travolta and the guys' initial meeting at the Royale. And it has gross violence, just like Tarantino. It's just not Tarantino.The acting is uneven with some good performances. Travolta does a great job, but earth to Travolta: if you're bald, shave your head and/or wear an expensive hairpiece, and stop looking like a chimpanzee with that hairline. It's so distracting.The director, Jackie Earle Haley, hands in a good performance, as do Pitt, Edi Gathegi, Pitt, and Stevens.

"Criminal Activities" aspires to be a Quentin Tarantino-like riddle of a crime-action-dark comedy. Unfortunately, it fails on all three levels of a crime saga, action picture, and dark humor.John Travolta is good as a mob boss who appears to be the center of convoluted crime story. Or is he? The screenplay for "Criminal Activities" resorts to an epilogue that seeks to put a twist on the story a kidnapping and high stakes blackmail of a group of four men who have made a lapse in judgment in borrowing money to invest in a pharmaceutical company. Their scheme backfires, and they are now confronted by Travolta's mob boss for payback time.There are too many stretches of the film that are poorly paced and thin on action. Also, it is difficult to understand a good portion of the dialogue that is spoken too fast by the actors.In the bonus section of the DVD, the character actor Jackie Earle Hayley recalls how he came to direct the picture. In a conversation with Travolta, Hayley discusses the great potential of the screenplay. Unfortunately, the cliché-ridden script was the biggest problem of the film. There was a fine cast of young actors, especially Edi Gathegi, who steals all of his scenes with clever line readings. But the final effect of the film is flat and non-engaging.

TO PERSON WHO ARE GOING TO SEE THE MOVE....This will give away a lot of it, so I suggest you read this AFTER you've seen the movie.I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. And I know it's only fiction, but the plan revealed at the end had some major flaws. How did the guy making the plan know the following stuff: 1. The guy behind the stock was going to be arrested? 2. The two friends not involved with the scam were going to be interested in investing in the stock? 2.Their two friends not involved in the scam were going to go along with the kidnapping plan and not go directly to the cops? 3.The kidnapping was going to be successful? This means:a. The guy being kidnapped wasn't going to be able to maneuver out of it especially since he had a gunb. The feds chasing them weren't going to be able to stop them? 4. The kidnappers uncle was going to offer a reward for his nephew? AND go through with it especially after he learned his nephew was a rat?

Four friends become four dumb criminals when a huge investment deal turns sour and realise that the money for the investment came from an underworld criminal boss who wants his money back.Noah (Dan Stevens), Zach (Michael Pitt), Warren (Christopher Abbott) and Bryce (Rob Brown) are offered a get out deal by mobster Eddie (John Travolta) who wants them to kidnap a rival gangster Marques, because he has kidnapped Eddie's niece and he would later wipe the slate clean.Gerry (Jackie Earle Haley) is a henchman for Eddie supposedly trying to locate Eddie's niece. The four of them kidnap the rival gangster and wait for further instructions. In the meantime Marques plays with their heads that causes tensions.Jackie Earle Haley directed the film as well as appearing in it. Travolta has a glorified cameo with his awful hairpiece and his presence makes you hark back to those twisty Tarantino type thrillers. There is a 'The Usual Suspects' type denouement which lifts the film from being truly dreadful but it is too little and too late for what is a humdrum and wearisome film.