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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY REVIEWS: MOVIES |
Review: 'Poolhall Junkies' a piece of junk
By Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
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Rick Schroder, right, also stars in "Poolhall Junkies" with Chazz Palminteri.
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(Entertainment Weekly) -- ''Poolhall Junkies'' is an unwieldy jumble of empty tough-guy gestures led by Chazz Palminteri and that king of sui generis eccentricity, Christopher Walken.
Put it this way: As a poolhall manager, Rod Steiger, in all his cue-ball-bald apoplexy, is a moderate gent compared with his overexerting costars in this garage-band appropriation of ''The Hustler'' or ''The Color of Money.''
The idea is that Johnny (director Mars Callahan, who makes squinting a Method acting choice), a too-cool-for-the-room pool shark, wants to become a legitimate pro, but has to fight off the strong-arm demands of his rat-bastard hustling mentor (Palminteri).
There's a fancy law-student girlfriend (Alison Eastwood), and a freakin' rich attorney (Walken) who digs Johnny's smooth moves and backs him with cold cash.
While the camera clomps listlessly from person talking to person listening and back again, no line of dialogue is simply spoken.
Variations include yelling, barking, growling, and rasping in the style of Alison Eastwood's father, Clint.
And though many of the men in this hipster fantasy wear their hair egg-beaten into peaks of attitude, Palminteri and crew are still in over their heads.
Grade: D
