Chain of Fools (2000)

Salma Hayek plays an avid detective assigned to the heist of a batch of precious coins that end up in the hands of a suicidal barber.

Directors:

Pontus Löwenhielm, Patrick von Krusenstjerna

Writer:

Bix Skahill

Stars:

Steve Zahn, Salma Hayek, Jeff Goldblum

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve Zahn	...	Kresk
Salma Hayek	...	Kolko
Jeff Goldblum	...	Avnet
Elijah Wood	...	Mikey
David Cross	...	Andy
Tom Wilkinson	...	Bollingsworth
Orlando Jones	...	Miss Cocoa
Kevin Corrigan	...	Paulie
David Hyde Pierce	...	Mr. Kerner
Lara Flynn Boyle	...	Karen
John Cassini	...	Henchman
Michael Rapaport	...	Hitman
Myndy Crist	...	Jeannie
Craig Ferguson	...	Melander Stevens
Devin Douglas Drewitz	...	Scottie (as Devin Drewitz)

Storyline

"Chain of Fools" is a heist comedy-romance about a hapless barber whose life takes a turn for the worse when he ends up in possession of a stolen treasure of ancient coins (the "Shiny New Enemies") and simultaneously falls on the wrong side of the law and in love with the detective investigating the crime.

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Plot Keywords:

coin | hitman | suicide | dog bite | boy scout | 

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Taglines:

La comédie qui sent l'embrouille

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, sexuality and language

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros.

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 September 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Shiny New Enemies

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bel Air Entertainment, City Block Productions, Lord-Weaver

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Claudia Schiffer was originally cast as Karen.

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Goofs

When Mikey (Elijah Wood) is about to shoot Bollingsworth (Tom Wilkinson), he points a Walther P99 pistol at him. The pistol is, however, not cocked as revealed by the absence of the bright red "cocked" indicator below the rear sights. This would make it impossible for the weapon to fire. (This may have been an intentional precaution by the filmmakers as the weapon has no safety switch.)

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Quotes

Mikey: You wanna go see a show? We should go see "Cats"...that's a good show!

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Soundtracks

"Jalopy Style"
Written by Mount Sims (as Matt Sims), Dave Cooley
Performed by Citizen King
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records, Inc.
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Nice comedy/crime with a lot of characters

Recap: Kresk, struggling barber, recently divorced by his wife stumbles upon a secret when a gangster comes into his barbershop. This gangster, Avnet, was involved in a high profile theft last night involving three ancient Chinese coins. He thinks Kresk must die, fortunately fro Kresk Avnet stumbles and get Kresk's scissor in his neck. Now Kresk has a body to take care of. Unfortunately for Kresk, Kresk is not the brightest boy in town. And worse, neither is his friend Andy, full time scout, who he enlists for help. But as time goes, and things get worse, more and more people get involved, but Kresk is determined that those coins will change his life. For the better, he hopes.

Comments: An unusual comedy/crime movie handling a lot of different subplots that runs at the sides of each others with a lot of intersections. What makes this unusual and imaginative is that what happens in a subplot we are not currently following has an impact how the story goes at the next intersection. At the same time we get the full coverage in time with a frequent use of flashbacks and jumps in the timeline. Still, it was never any problem to follow.

The movie has a really big cast, and a lot of the names on the list are known. Goldblum delivers a solid performance as usual, Zahn is a great choice for Kresk. The best impression however I think I got from Elijah Wood who portrays a teen hit-man with finesse. I think it is the best performance from him I have ever seen. The director team Traktor has done a great work in their movie debut and I hope I will see more work from them like this one.

7/10