Okay...this is not a perfect movie, and it is hard to categorize because it is not violent enough for today's action movie label, funny enough for today's comedy tag or serious enough to earn the drama moniker.
We also have to realize that this is early in the career of some of the performers. Helen Hunt, liam Neeson, Ben Stiller and Bill Paxton are big today, but you cannot measure this movie by today's standards.
What a lot of people seem to have missed here is the theme about family and friendships. You had the hillbilly vs. the mob family -- hard to compare -- not really. The movie accented that their were more similarities than differences. There are too many examples to be worth singling any of them out.
You also had the loyalty/friendship theme. Think of how Michael J. Pollard, living in the basement of society, had high morals, or how the guys in the hillbilly bar could family up. You could measure that to the members of the bosses crime family against the character of Adam Baldwin.
All in all, this is not a great movie...good at best. But there are some interesting points worth pondering. And seeing an Irishman, Liam Neeson, playing a classic redneck hillbilly is worth seeing it all by itself.
Finally...another overlooked part of this movie is the excellent soundtrack. It is among my small collection of movie soundtracks, that should sum it.
We also have to realize that this is early in the career of some of the performers. Helen Hunt, liam Neeson, Ben Stiller and Bill Paxton are big today, but you cannot measure this movie by today's standards.
What a lot of people seem to have missed here is the theme about family and friendships. You had the hillbilly vs. the mob family -- hard to compare -- not really. The movie accented that their were more similarities than differences. There are too many examples to be worth singling any of them out.
You also had the loyalty/friendship theme. Think of how Michael J. Pollard, living in the basement of society, had high morals, or how the guys in the hillbilly bar could family up. You could measure that to the members of the bosses crime family against the character of Adam Baldwin.
All in all, this is not a great movie...good at best. But there are some interesting points worth pondering. And seeing an Irishman, Liam Neeson, playing a classic redneck hillbilly is worth seeing it all by itself.
Finally...another overlooked part of this movie is the excellent soundtrack. It is among my small collection of movie soundtracks, that should sum it.