Small Time (I) (1996) User Reviews

Original movie: Tarantino's style plus New Age

[pzanardo · 7/10 · 18 September 2001]

"Small time" is a movie in Tarantino's style blended (oddly enough) with New Age themes. I normally dislike Tarantino's imitators, but "Small time" is really a funny and interesting film. The story is simple. The small time crook Ben (Glenn Plummer) has the chance to make an important delivery for some big-shot: the meeting point is an abandoned hut in the desert. Unfortunately, he has the awful idea to take with him two cretinous accomplices: their idiotic self-damaging behavior is the main source of funny trouble in the movie. And in the desert Ben meets a mysterious old Indian chief (a ghost?) who somewhat introduces him to New Age philosophy.

The narrating style of the director Jeffrey Reiner is fast-paced and original. A pleasant black humor permeates the script. In spite of an evident low-budget, the film is made with taste and accuracy. Many people are killed, but, fortunately, violence is kept to a minimal level. The acting is generally adequate. Plummer is a nice guy. Arguably the best is Rae Dawn Chong, gorgeous and incredibly sexy in the role of a proficient, ruthless gangster.

In conclusion, "Small time" is far from being a great movie, but it is entertaining, often unpredictable and made in an original way.

Not bad at all

[Tito-8 · 6/10 · 6 May 2000]

I knew nothing about this movie when I sat down to watch it, but it ended up being a pleasant way to spend some time. The three leads all did a fine job, and their interaction produced many amusing moments. In fact, although it was rarely laugh-out-loud funny, the humor was more effective here than in most big-budget comedies. The more serious ending was fairly ordinary, yet it still managed to suit this film well. So, the next time you're in the mood for a film that isn't mainstream, you might want to give this a chance.

Great movie I've never heard of

[vanity6_2000 · 7/10 · 26 January 2007]

I am currently on vacation and they have Showtime,HBO,and Cinemax here where I only have basic cable at home so this is a treat.

I got ready for bed and scanned the channels to find this movie. The scene I first stumbled upon was when they arrived at the remote desert location.

My favorite fellow Filipino, Ernie Reyes,Jr. is in this film. They call him the Chinaman, although I kept squinting and said, That guy doesn't look Chinese at all. He looks 100% Filipino. LOL. Anyways, I recognized Plummer who I'd seen in Showgirls.

Basically Reyes is almost unrecognizable as he plays opposite of his typical powerful Black-Belt self. I this movie, he is slightly more meek, withdrawn, obedient, and laid-back. They do portray him as being stereotypically good in math when he divides large sums without a calculator.

This movie was borderline funny and had a lot of intense moments.

There were some female "ladies of the night" and one of them was a mixed-race actress whose character was "V". I recall her face. Her performance was very good and had some intense sexual moments.

Bowling ball bags, robberies, outhouses, Orange soda, thirst, cocaine...this was a pretty good movie coming from someone who doesn't watch movies she turns to in the middle or past the intro not knowing what is going on.

When this comes out on DVD it is sure to be a favorite.

I loved this movie without reservation and would love to revisit it. So sad that it doesn't seem to have come out on DVD. Why not???

[baffawaffa · 10/10 · 28 October 2006]

Glenn Plumber gives a perfect performance as an earnest, highly motivated petty criminal, with the best intentions, all of which go awry. There is a plan, an exchange of bowling bags filled with cocaine and money. The setting for this ominous rendezvous is an abandoned cabin in a vast and forbidding desert. One of the most hopeless settings ever seen in film. And our hero's chosen criminal associates don't have an ounce of focus, or even a sense of cause-and-effect, and, sadly, he too has this problem. I guess that makes this a Black Comedy. But it's a black comedy with tremendous elegance. There's nothing ugly in the telling of it. Paced with a droll formality, in tidy little chapters, with titles: "The Wrong Man"... "The Right Man"... each chapter presents us with a rising tsunami of wrong moves, misperceptions, horrible mistakes. Doom. The flummoxed hero seeks wisdom in a picture book, found on the floor, hallucinates an ancient Apache wise man who silently offers him interesting but unhelpful tips on desert survival. What a crazy little digression! Strangely real, strangely moving, strangely full of, well, grace. We sense that the hero's pole-axed dumbness is itself a kind of grace. Like a nearly-blind Mister Magoo, he just might get through this booby-trapped maze, and we want this for him. The movie is making us want this. It'a a perfect seduction. We stay with him through a whole series of encounters with mythically perfect antagonists, including the sublime Rae Dawn Chong, a crescendo rising to absolute mayhem, and stagger on out with a raggedly absurd happy ending. Crazy. Wonderful. Nicely done. I think this should be a famous movie.

Very good film

[MafferDragonhand · 30 August 2004]

This film is a low-budget piece, with actors you've probably not heard of. But...they manage to put it all together well.

Ben, a gangster, is told by a partner in crime that he will be getting a chance at "real" work. Ben will take a suitcase full of cocaine into a shack in the desert and simply wait a few days for the buyer to arrive. This buyer is known only as "the Dutchman." Ben will receive $100,000 for the drugs; he will be allowed to keep $35,000 of that money as payment.

Ben decides to bring along two male friends who also happen to also be amateur gangsters. Characteristically, Ben lies to his friends and says he's being paid $20,000 and that they'll split the 20k three ways. (No honor among gangsters, I suppose!) That part always makes me smile; it shows Ben to be very clever and deceitful. What's more, it leads to a hilarious speech, to wit: "I didn't even HAVE to tell you guys I was being paid twenty thousand dollars for this deal! I could have lied and said I was making TEN thousand, and you'd STILL have begged me to let you come along!" Ben is a pathological liar, but the director happens to exploit that aspect of his personality in a few humorous scenes.

Trouble starts almost from the beginning. When they stop for gas, despite the fact that they have some money with them, Ben's boneheaded friend Jesus decides he just doesn't feel like paying for anything and robs the store. As their car races away, the owner fires a shotgun at them; piercing the gas tank and essentially trapping the three at their pickup point. Jesus doesn't stop there. He decides to invite a few lady-friends over for a party the first night and everyone, except Ben, who is horrified at this gross incompetence, starts helping themselves to the cocaine. The next day; bored, thirsty, and upset at the situation, Ben starts to see visions of an Indian holy man in the desert.

This movie has some funny moments; mostly because it doesn't TRY to be funny. These characters are so incompetent you can't help but smile regardless of what they're going. There aren't many cliché's; the characters seem well-rounded to me. Though the ending is a bit on the unoriginal side; it neither impresses nor disappoints. Highly Recommended. I hope this movie is re-released on DVD soon.

Very good movie

[Sarina · 8/10 · 29 November 2000]

I really liked this movie, I thought it was well-paced, surprising, and well-acted. These three "small time" crooks are out on their big chance for the big boss guy, and of course, things are going wrong! But fortunately in a funny and unpredictable way, believe it or not. I also liked this movie because it was NOT stereotypical. As in, usually you can see a character and say, well, that's ones going to be bumped off first, but that was not the case in this movie. I was happy with the way it ended, it was very satisfying.