Slingshot (2005) User Reviews

A whiff of unfulfilled potential...

[oruboris · 6/10 · 20 April 2009]

They had the bones of a really good story, here: two guys, more than best friends. More than brothers, more than lovers, they are each others sole support system, like twins conjoined by emotions instead of biology. What happens when a girl comes along that threatens to cut them apart?

Too much is included here that's not integral to that story: >they aren't just thieves, their *gigolo* thieves, cuz that's, ya know, *cooler*. >not just one woman threatens to separate them, but two. And oh yeah, it's a mother/daughter duo, both (inexplicably) drawn to the same dude (really, how much ego massage does Getty need?) >and Mom has a creepy friend who practically brow beats her into the affair because, uh... no reason, really: just makes mom's adultery more forgivable >the boy's criminal bosses aren't just pointlessly bizarre, they're pointless: they steal focus without adding interest >oh, and it's a coming of age story about 'boys' in their late twenties/thirties, even though it would have worked better on several levels played roughly a decade younger.

David Arquette is surprisingly good: the viewer is more in touch with what he's feeling than he is himself, making the emotional cyclone of the climax feel real and inevitable. Margulies is radiant, sensitive-- anyone would fall in love with her. But Getty seems out of his depth and Birch is painfully wooden: no chemistry between them, leaving Arquette to carry the load alone.

Worth seeing? Depends on how big a soft spot you have for bad boys, and whether you are put off by the smell of unfulfilled potential.

This thing should be shot out of a cannon

[MBunge · 3/10 · 30 August 2010]

I'm almost at a loss for words when it comes to a film like Slingshot. The story is an awkward mix of tedium and clichés that changes into something different every 30 minutes. It too often looks more like a music video or a commercial for Wrangler jeans than it does a legitimate motion picture. The few times it stumbles into something vaguely entertaining, the moment is abandoned faster than a a blind date bailing on the Octomom. There's neither a single memorable line of dialog nor an interesting and believable human relationship in the entire production. I don't know why anyone thought this film should be made or why anyone would give money to these people to make it.

Ashley and Taylor (David Arquette and Balthazar Getty) are two-bit thieves who've known each other since childhood and drifted through their whole lives together. They've made their way to Connecticut on word from a criminal acquaintance that there are real opportunities to steal up there. Ash and Taylor gin up what is apparently their standard scam, starting up affairs with lonely housewives whom they bed and then rob. Of course, such a scheme only works because Ashley and Taylor look like David Arquette and Balthazar Getty. Actual two-bit criminals are not all that attractive because a life of two-bit crime is a fairly hard road of deprivation, substance abuse and getting your ass kicked on a semi-regular basis.

Taylor manages to hook up with Karen (Julianna Margulies), a woman with a loveless second marriage and a hot teenage daughter named April (Thora Birch). Taylor becomes a regular booty call for Karen when her husband is out of town and he steals some stuff from her jewelry box that won't be missed. Taylor, though, starts getting clingy and too wrapped up in his mark, desperately waiting for her summons. Meanwhile, Karen is mundanely excited and conflicted over her new affair and sets up her hornier best friend Emma (Joely Fisher) for a romp with Ashley. Now, there is something appealing about the contrast between the more emotional relationship of Karen and Taylor and the more physical union between Emma and Ashley but these filmmakers don't recognize it, so Emma quickly vanishes from the story and Taylor moves on from Karen to her daughter April.

That's right, the two-bit thief transitions from banging the mom to falling in cow-eyed love with her daughter. Now, that sort of makes sense for Taylor as he's been established as a soft-headed fool who's looking for something to pull himself out of his miserable life. But a college aged girl falling in love with her adulterous mother's boy toy, especially when she's aware of their affair and Taylor tells her that he's a low-rent thief? That's messed up. April would have to have some serious mental health issues, both internally and with her mother, to find that situation romantically appealing. But these filmmakers are utterly oblivious to that and treat Taylor and April as just another two young kids sweetly falling in love.

If you can guess that Taylor and April getting together makes Ashley into a third wheel, you can probably figure out where the story goes from here. Trust me though; you can't possibly imagine how poorly it ends up being told. Throw in some stuff that goes nowhere involving Ashley's difficulties with the local fence and a strange digression involving a pee-wee hockey player that bookends the movie and that is Slingshot.

The performances in this film are fine, though none of the characters have any depth or substance for the actors to work with. This movie is also only 90 minutes long, so I suppose it gets some points for not extending its crappiness out any further than that.

Slingshot is the sort of bad film you get when people who aren't that talented throw a bunch of individual story ideas into a script but never develop any of them. Add in a style of filmmaking that looks like it was inspired by watching too much television and you've got a thoroughly unenjoyable product. Skip this thing.

Lost in the edit

[mike-murphy-2 · 2/10 · 18 September 2007]

This should have been a moody, gritty, movie which lingered in the memory as an exposition of relationship where the dominant personality only survives because the personality being dominated sees no hope of change.

The acting was intense and skillful, the dialogue worked but the movie was irritatingly ineffective: too many distance shots that suggested lack of focus rather than a broader picture. Poor flow. The first 5 minutes could have been missed out altogether.

I suspect that, with a different edit, this movie could have been compelling.

In its current form it is flat, formless and tremendously disappointing.

This movie deserves to be shot with a sling

[guisreis · 3/10 · 23 September 2015]

The dramatic end (Ashley confesses that he loves Taylor) is nice and reduce the nonsense feeling a little bit as it justifies at least part of the craziness. Though, the beginning is bad and most of the movie is HORRIBLE. Indeed, what starts badly worsens a lot, specially when the plot changes its path with the introduction of Ash's lover's daughter. Many events in the story are not credible, almost as impossible as the dialogs. It is hard to decide what is worse: the dialogs or the soundtrack. The affair of Ash and Karen could be better developed, but how the hell her daughter April dated him in that situation? The two main characters, the immature, sexist, violent rascals, childhood friends, who steal seduced older women, are somewhat well developed, but the same may not be said about other characters. Karen's friend started and finished her affair with Taylor in a blink. Fast Bobby is an even emptier character. To resume: this is a very bad film in spite of some actors who acted well.

Horrible

[shelbyc_72 · 1/10 · 4 June 2007]

This filmmaker wanted to make a movie without having a story to tell -- and did so. Really awful jumble of unlikely/unexplained coincidences and unidentifiable plot line, all without character or clear motivation.

We get cliché snapshots instead of characters. One in particular is the diminutive and beautiful crime boss, who projects an overdone "tough guy" persona and casts a cartoonish shadow of intimidation over the actual tough guys who have been brought in to work for her. Nothing much startling to look at in the film except for one shot when the boys hit the road and one of them carries a tiny suitcase (as in, the smallest from a complete American Tourister set) in a bright, sky blue, without explanation or apology. Otherwise it's standard visually -- one other exception is a compelling shot of a beautiful bridge in CT.

The Rewards and Perils of Bonded Kids Who Never Grow Up

[gradyharp · 7/10 · 9 June 2007]

SLINGSHOT explores the ups and downs of the lives of two boys, close friends since childhood, both from homes where they were unwanted, who made it through reform school and remain as a unit into an adult life as petty scam artists - living on the edge of crime and a life of desperate need for belonging. The script by Jay Alaimo (who also directs), Matt Fiorello, Matthew Martin is gritty, full of humor and fine interchanges between the characters that manage to lift the story to a higher level of social statement than the usual 'crime buddies tales'.

Ashley (David Arquette) and Taylor (Balthazar Getty) are the borderline 'bad guy duo' who have decided to move their scam of charming lonely housewives while robbing them to Fairfield County, Connecticut: the scam is that Taylor seduces the women while Ashley robs the preoccupied women. One of Taylor's hits is bored and married Karen (Julianna Margulies) whose second marriage is passionless making her an easy target for Taylor's charms. All goes according to plan until Taylor realizes he cares for Karen and Karen (with a lot of encouragement from girlfriend Emma - Joely Fisher - for an affair) falls for Taylor. The nightly signal from Karen that the coast is clear for Taylor to join her in bed is a light from her bedroom, yet when that goes on one evening, Taylor meets Karen's young daughter April (Thora Birch) in her mother's bedroom and barely escapes discovery when Karen and husband come home early. April at first mocks Taylor's attraction to her mother, but gradually the two bond - the first time that Taylor has been close to anyone except Ashley.

While Taylor is 'prepping' Karen for robbery Ashley is mixing with their 'crime bosses' Dickson (Michael Janik) and Fast Bobby (Svetlana Metkina) and feels the threat to perform. Several incidents lead to the final confrontation between Taylor, now enamored with April, and Ashley, who finally comes to grips with the fact that he is love with Taylor. The long-standing duo hits a schism and how that resolves provides a disturbing ending.

The four leads - Arquette, Getty, Margulies, and Birch - offer performances that are more than simple outlines of disconsolate characters: they inhabit their roles, finding cores of credibility that allow the viewer to understand the needs and fears of these isolated people. The cinematography by Paul Daley is appropriately grimy and the film editing by Jim Rubino takes Jay Alaimo's direction to a more cohesive whole. While not a great movie by any means, it is a touching character study of what happens to unwanted kids whose lives are dependent on each other in a world that rejects them. Grady Harp

Get Glasses

[maggiegriffin1 · 10/10 · 3 November 2007]

This movie was excellent.

It is clear this movie is based on the trials, trivia and challenges many adults and young adults face.

It is specific, to the point and most enjoyable to young and older adults.

The movie is based on real life situations in both parenting, mentoring and growing pains of young adults. What we all face in life.

As for a Connecticut Clip Shot, I suggest you visit CT to understand why CT was a chosen state in that clip.

I truly feel that the first two comments were made by people for other reasons not having to do with this movie.

This movie was excellent.

I recommend it and Happy it is out on DVD.

It serves as an example for parents and youth.

It is based on real life events.

Good indie movie

[checkacheck · 7/10 · 26 April 2007]

Glad to see this is finally out on DVD. It's nice to see these actors on screen and in roles that suit them well. Gotta love Arquette, Birch, Marquiles and Getty. I wish more movies like this were made these days. It felt, to me, like a movie in the vein of the great indie dramas of the early 90s - the ones that also had a good amount of real life humor but also had real characters. Hopefully it's not a dying breed. I don't mean to imply that this movie is a talky, unplotted movie like Clerks or Pompetus of Love (nothing against those films). This is absolutely a genre film - a con film - it's just done in a sort of different tone than others.

I don't know how this movie did theatrically but it's a definitely worth a rent. I think of it as a hang out movie, to use a Quentin Tarantino phrase, the kind of movie where you really enjoy hanging out with the characters.