Welcome to Collinwood

When it comes to making a heist movie, there's typically two ways to go. One, the serious version with a team of specialists working together to pull off a seemingly impossible job. By the end, there's a good chance they've turned on each other, several are dead, and the heist failed miserably. Two, the not so serious version with a team of misfits working together on some low-level job which probably isn't worth the effort for what they'll get in the end. Both types have produced successes, but I usually prefer the serious version.

Doing a comedic version of a heist story is tricky because it's easy to go overboard trying to be funny, or there's the pulled back, subtle humor as is the case in 2002's Welcome to Collinwood. It's the type of comedy that looked like it had everything going for it with a great cast, interesting premise, and just the right amount of humor to make a comedic heist work. Too bad then that something did not translate in this movie with brother directing combo Joe and Anthony Russo working together on a screenplay they wrote. It's the type of movie that thinks it is much funnier than it is. 'Collinwood' tries to be that quirky, indie low-budget comedy but never delivers.

Sent to prison on a grand theft auto charge, Cosimo (Luis Guzman) finds out about an easy job to pull off from his cellmate, a lifer with no shot of getting out of prison. Cosimo tells his girlfriend Rosalind (Patricia Clarkson) he needs a fall guy to take the rap for him so he can get his release and start working on the job. Instead, the fall guy, a low level boxer named Pero (Sam Rockwell) gets thrown into prison when the judge doesn't believe his confession only to con Cosimo into giving up the plan. Pero gets his release and goes to work planning the job, a robbery of a jewelry store's safe he'll get to by crashing through the apartment next door. But word has already spread and Pero has some 'help' from an odd assortment of some forgotten, low-level thieves who also want a crack at the money in the safe.

The premise itself reminded me of The Ladykillers in many ways, but in the Russo screenplay the two brothers forgot one key thing...make the movie funny. I didn't actually laugh until the actual heist scene which does provide a few chuckles as these inept crooks attempt to break into a safe. I can't decide who's at fault, but I guess it goes back to the screenplay. There's all these great actors working together, but their characters are nothing more than rough sketches that were never fleshed out with the exception of Rockwell's Pero. It feels like the Russos just figured the talent in front of the camera would save the day, but working with the material in front of them the actors aren't able to do much.

Joining Pero's crew is Riley (William H. Macy), a father of an infant looking for some cash because he must care for his son because the wife got sent to prison, Leon (Isaiah Washington), a dandy of a dude trying to protect his sister (Gabrielle Union) and get some money so she can be married, Toto (Michael Jeter), Cosimo's former partner who's a little off, and Basil (Andy Davoli), a bum in need of quick cash. Even George Clooney makes a quick appearance as a wheelchair-bound safecracker (Clooney co-produced the movie with Steven Soderbergh). Jennifer Esposito joins the cast as Carmela, a young maid working in the apartment the fellas will need to work in to get to the safe. The cast is what drew me in to the movie, but as a whole they're just not given enough to do.

Besides the screenplay's weaknesses, 'Collinwood' is flawed because it tries too hard to be quirky, to be different. Successes in indie movies comes when there's a natural feel, a flow to that quirkiness. But here everything screams out 'Look at us, we're different! Laugh at us!' The music by Mark Mothersbaugh is jazzy and overbearing at times, almost pointing out when the viewer should be laughing. Filmed in Cleveland, the story has a cheap look to it as if the characters were trapped in the 1970s judging by their personal styles, but it's hard to get a good read on that.

This is all that much more disappointing because of the talent involved in making the movie. A special feature on the DVD made during the filming shows the actors and crew are enjoying themselves. But something is missing as the behind the scenes fun never translates to in front of the camera. Too many detours and sidetracks here with a movie that never goes anywhere, even with its 86-minute running time. The story just ends too with no real conclusion for everyone except Rockwell's character. A disappointment all around. Available to watch on Youtube, starting with Part 1 of 12.

Welcome to Collinwood <----trailer (2002): **/****