The Quickie (2001)

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

I recently watched Brother (BRAT) and was intrigued enough by it to want to see other movies directed by Bodrov Sr (they both also star Bodrov Jr.)These movies are quirky--this one showed the decadent disintegration of a gangster and his family. Having a cockroach exterminator get rid of the gangster was kind of nice touch--these highly personal quirky odd movies are fun if well done. This one is well done. I especially liked the sound track of falsettos it is hauntingly beautiful. The music is by Tiger Lillies a sound and group that is very distinctive.To me like Brother or Brat this movie lacks of a clear story line so you assume what is going on is basic gangster betraying gangster stuff. This movie shows an ensemble of family problems nympho wives absent mothers sibling rivalry--in fact there is a little too much going on. You get taken up with the visuals and subplots so it is not that boring even without a detailed story. The visuals in this movie were not nearly as unique and interesting as BRAT so that movie worked a lot better--everything is shot in a Malibu hilltop house from the 70s--this is not different enough to be visually interesting--maybe to a Russian it was.Again if you like quirky personal movies this one will do for you. I found this one drags about 30 minutes from the end when the cockroach woman arrives--overall I gave it a 6. Brat was a better movie....in this one the writers/directors may have dipped into the coke a little too much.Bodrov Jr. was killed in 2002 in an avalanche (he is main protagonist in BRAT)-- To be honest his death was not a big loss to future movies--he is a bad actor too self conscious--maybe thinks also he is hotter looking than he is--helps that Dad is the director too.RECOMMEND

A quickie is about a Russian Mob Boss who tries to purchase sex from an exterminator hired to clean up after a party. Hokay it opens up with one of the worst parties ever, instead of bringing presents they brought their baggage to the party. most of the characters are the usual suspect. Stereotypical in mob movies but ring true. His ex-wife with her new gigolo. Another aged mobster with his young cheating wife. Some upstarts playboy young turks fighting over who will be higher on the pecking order. Everyones depressed, everyones at each others throats. Somebody finds a message that the head guy has been marked for death. mind you he's got a gun to his head playing Russian Roulette at the time. So once the message is got, he and his henchmen swing into action to keep him alive, I don't know why seeing as how bad his life is.

I wanted to see this movie because I liked "Kavkazskij Plennik" ("Prisoner of the Mountains") and "Brat" ("Brother") with Sergey Bodrov, Jr. and "Vor" ("The Thief") with Vladimir Mashkov. Well, unlike the other movies, "The Quickie" was a total waste of time. The story that makes little sense, very uneven acting (Lesley Ann Warren was especially bad), really awful dialogs, poor cinematography, what else could go wrong? I find it amusing that in practically every American-made movie, when the same-language-speaking foreigners (Russians in this case) are left alone, they prefer to communicate with each other mostly in broken English (and when they happen to speak Russian, for some reason translators feel obligated to add a lot of "f**ks" in the sentences, which have no profanity, literal or non-literal). At the same time, native-English-speaking actors choose to speak in broken Russian. Why is that? Getting back to the story, most of the subplots of the movie (e.g. betting the house, inviting Latin American paramilitaries, etc) either make no sense or do nothing more than confusing the viewers. It is too bad that Bodrov, Mashkov, and Leigh (all good actors in my humble opinion) got themselves involved in this disaster.

"The Quickie" tells of a decadent Russian mob family who lives in Malibu and...well, frankly, this awful attempt at drama isn't worthy of commentary.Jason Leigh introduces herself to Mr. Mob-guy as being from "Pacific Exterminators" with huge letters in plain sight on her back which say "West Coast Exterminators". Eventually the mob-guys get suspicious because she was exterminating in a bedroom. (duh).In another scene Mr. Mobguy plays Russian roulette giving a hooker $4000 to bet whether he'll live or die. She has 5 chances out of 6 of keeping the money if she bets "live". Well, she bets "die". (double duh) Later she complains it wasn't fair and wants to play again. (Triple duh). The list of flaws just goes on and on while this intelligence insulting film stinks and sinks in a quagmire of lousy music, mediocre camera work, poor direction, boring story, etc. Pass on this loser. (D)Note - The barebones DVD which I rented had no English same language subtitles or closed captions.