Pun Salad

I think I may have seen this on a list of good "guy movies" at some point, so I put it into the Blockbuster queue, and it finally made it to the top.

It is written by, directed by, and stars Mars Callahan. It's the story of Johnny Doyle, who has only one talent, and one real interest, and that's playing pool. There's a raft of colorful characters in his orbit: his sleazy mentor Joe (played by Chazz Palminteri); the prickly but lovable poolhall owner Nick (Rod Steiger, in his last movie); his headstrong brother Danny (Lex Luthor with hair); the ambivalent-about-his-lifestyle girlfriend (Alison Eastwood); mysterious competitor/rival Brad (Ricky Schroder?!); the girlfriend's rich and offbeat uncle Mike (Christopher Walken); and a host of (probably too many) buddies with their own stories.

The dialog at times seems like output from the ClichéMaster 7000; the plot follows pretty familiar lines as well. Acting is OK-to-mediocre, except for Christopher Walken, who fits into his role as if it had been written for him.

And you know there's going to be a climactic pool game, with (essentially) our hero's life riding on the line. But I didn't see the ending coming at all; thumbs up for that.