Long story short, after serving time for a bank robbery he did not commit, a man (Keanu Reeves) conspires with his former cellmate (James Caan) to rob that same bank for real through a long forgotten bootlegger's tunnel which runs from the bank to a theater across the alleyway.
Keanu Reeves plays Henry, an affable man, but seemingly without ambition, dreams or purpose. Neo, he ain't. The true star of this twisty character study is James Caan, who turns in a suave performance as a perfidious confidence man just quietly bidding his time until paroled - and conned into this bank job by Henry.
Vera Farmiga plays Julie Ivanova, Henry's romantic interest. She's a jilted and jaded actress who's been in one too many flops, both professionally and personally, and just wants to be onstage entertaining an audience, not robbing a bank.
The late Roger Ebert illuminates the scenes:
"This is perhaps beginning to sound to you like a screwball comedy. Imagine such a comedy if it has gone 48 hours without sleep. All the elements are present: Henry needs to be cast in the play to gain access to the tunnel, Max and Eddie get involved, Julie is remarkably accepting, any romance between Julie and Henry hangs in the balance, split-second exits and entrances are called for, and so on. Now imagine everyone sprinting through quicksand."Yeah, it requires an enormous suspension of disbelief to enjoy this buddy film within a romance masquerading as play within a movie. It starts out slow. It's quirky. It's almost predictable, but the suave performance James Caan delivers smooths out the bumps. I liked it.
Directed by Malcolm Venville. Screenplay by Sacha Gervasi & David N. White. Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes
Public domain, available on youtub
