One thing is for sure: the crime drama is in. What movie revitalized the cinema's love affair with gangsters in the 1990s and now the 2000 era? Was it Pulp Fiction in 1994 or The Usual Suspects in 1995? I would point to the latter, as Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects was more of a legitimate crime drama than Pulp Fiction, which was largely an experimental, cross-genre film. Now in 2007 crime drama directors continue to shoot hard, with last year's success Oscar-nominated The Departed, and even recent discoveries like The Good German, though Deniro's masterpiece is more of a political story than a true crime drama. Even this year's Alpha Dog proves that even B-level gangsters can still give audiences a cheap thrill.

Smokin' Aces is certainly not Goodfellas material by any means. It has a fairly large share of detractors, who claim that the movie is unnecessarily vile and that many of its plot twists are unbelievable. While this might be an accurate criticism, this does not mean that Smokin' Aces is without its villainous charms. One quality that makes the film work, at least on a matinée price level, is the film's comic book mentality. This is obviously not a serious gangster flick in the tradition of Coppola or Scorsese. But writer director Joe Carnahan stages each overblown scene with the ribald eagerness of a first time full splash page comic book artist. The film's dialogue is not always plot-relevant, nor is it inspired as you might expect from a better crime-drama writer like Tarantino. Nevertheless, there are some laughs in the film as the director can't help but snicker as his own bizarre, blood-lusty fantasy come to life. It's true that Carnahan's characters are not real--they are drawings, or archetypes of evil that are bound to clash on a quest for money, but mainly for our own amusement. Yes, the film has a plot and a rather far-fetched plot twist; the official story is that a Las Vegas performer-turned-snitch named Buddy Israel has decided to testify against the mob. In doing so, he has angered many bad guys and placed a bounty his own head, attracting many amoral hitmen and hitwomen.

Obviously, Smokin' Aces does not offer any great or even very good performances by its cast. Everyone performs adequately, letting the plot save the movie. The movie's most enjoyable performance is probably Jason Bateman, as Rip Reed, who comes a long way from his Arrested Development leading man smugness, and plays a character totally out of this world--and even out of this genre. On the other hand Ryan Reynolds and Jeremy Piven try so very hard and end up looking just adequate. This is not a movie that will be remembered for any great performances. Even the boy-band gangster film Alpha Dog contained at least two or three performances wacky enough to be remembered one year from now.

The action is well choreographed and the suspense does manage to build eventually, though of course we never really care about any of the characters. This is obviously not an enjoyable movie if you feel that all characters and all films must have some ultimate redemption; this is an eight grader's comic book on screen. But I didn't mind the silliness of Smokin' Aces, just like I didn't mind Christopher McQuarrie's overrated goofball script of The Usual Suspects. I felt The Usual Suspects had nothing exceptional going for it, except a clever plot line and a sort of juvenile enthusiasm for the underground that most movies at the time lacked.

Smokin' Aces is not brilliant by any means but it does sustain your interest for two hours, even though it sends you home with a bullet to the face, in terms of plot plausibility. But whoever said comics books aren't fun? Grade: B-