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 (as Traktor), Patrick von Krusenstjerna (as Traktor)

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:

canine | man's best friend | botched robbery | robbery | theft | 

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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

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

Mickey: Who are you?
Hitman: I'm the Hitman, who are you?
Mickey: I'm the hitman.

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Connections

Referenced in The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: Episode #7.157 (2011)

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Soundtracks

Toccatina
Written by Horst Ramthor
Courtesy of Associated Production Music, LLC

User Reviews

Very black and pretty funny

This started off a little slow, but quickly accelerated to a very quick pace. It went so fast for the last two thirds of the movie that you really had to pay attention to get everything. The twists are great, and incredibly funny. The plot is pretty good, not brilliant but allows for some very funny twists, and some unbelievably funny, but fairly unlikely, very complicated, situations that will make you laugh for several minutes without stopping for a breath, provided that you like black humor. The actors all do pretty good jobs, even Elijah Wood, who I normally hate with a passion, pulled off an entertaining performance. There weren't really any of the actors I was heavily disappointed by. All of the characters were funny, in their own, twisted sort of way, most of them are either caricatures or stereotypes, but they work really well together. The humor was great, most of the time, though some of the jokes fell flat, but most of it was a treat for fans of black comedy(like me). The sparse number of action scenes there was, were really great. The movie has a very good fast pace throughout most of the movie, there was hardly any moment where I was bored. The movie has some scenes that take place on a non-linear timeline, especially in the beginning, but the moment these are over, the film finds a better pace. This is not to say that these scenes were bad, in fact I find them to be a great start to the film. Overall, the movie was quite good, but some of the humor seemed to be more there to shock than to amuse, some of it did seem over the top. It could have been better, had the humor been more balanced and had more of the characters been believable and likable. In the end, the movie has some great laughs, but that's about it. It's easily forgettable. I recommend this to pretty much any fan of black comedy. It's not the best, but it's a pretty good one. If you're not easily offended, and you like black humor, it's worth checking out. 7/10

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

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1