Once Upon a Time in Venice (2017) User Reviews

not bad as they said

[fanan450 · 5/10 · 18 April 2019]

I will not said it was good neither bad , it's watchable, some moments were funny and some weren't. the story was (ok) !! , the acting was ok too !! but this kind of movies, you only gonna watch it just to kill time , nothing else ,nothing special.

5/10

A film that should have been a fun crime caper is weighed down by dull-as-lead directing.

[LloydBayer · 4/10 · 14 July 2017]

80s action icon Bruce Willis makes an average of four films a year. That is twice more than what buddy Stallone does yearly. Trouble is, these films are either poorly marketed or badly written or Willis is tasked with supporting roles opposite new actors in lead roles. Which is why Once Upon a Time in Venice has potential but how well it performs will be anyone's guess. There are lots of established actors along with Willis in an interesting setup that resembles a cross between a Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino film. Playing a retired cop turned private investigator (Moonlighting anyone?), Willis plays a loner whose dog is kidnapped by petty criminals. To get his dog back, Willis' Steve Ford must navigate through a series of heists and dodgy characters, including loan sharks and dimwitted gangsters.

It's a film that sounds very familiar and doesn't require a whole lot of thinking to sit through. But as an action-comedy, Once Upon a Time in Venice is a misfire that should have gone straight to streaming video, or the type of film you watch in a hotel room before a flight. There are moments that are supposed to be funny, like Ford's best friend (John Goodman) going through a divorce, or Ford trying to infiltrate a gangster hideout (inaudible mumbling from Jason Momoa), but there's something missing. There are other popular actors too, albeit shoehorned in bit roles that never add up to the overall story.

Debut director Mark Cullen has a long history writing for TV and it shows. Most scenes in the film feel disjointed or like skits at best. At worst it feels like the script was filmed soon after first draft. That's a shame because this film had all the juicy ingredients for a fun crime caper along the likes of Snatch or Jackie Brown. Instead, the film is weighed down by dull-as-lead directing that even John McClane wouldn't shoot his way through. Speaking of Willis, and at 62, there are still plenty of good films he can make as long as the choice is right. Let's just hope Willis doesn't disappear down the rabbit hole like Nic Cage.

Feels like a TV episode of a bad show

[jtindahouse · 4/10 · 18 June 2017]

'Once Upon a Time in Venice Beach' was a very different film to that which I was expecting. The main reason for this? I didn't expect a comedy with Bruce Willis in the lead role. When I think of Willis I do not think of funny. He's good at the sarcastic one-liners (think 'Die Hard') evenly spread throughout a film, but not trying to carry the whole thing on his humour alone. He doesn't have the talent for that, nor did he have the script here to be fair. He may not be a funny man, but I don't think many actors in Hollywood would have been able to turn this material into something funny. There wasn't a whole lot to like about this film.

The next problem with the film is that it never actually feels like a film. It feels like the pilot for a TV series. Sure enough I looked up writer/director Mark Cullen's profile and most of his previous work has come in television (with the exception of another Bruce Willis cop movie 'Cop Out' which was also not received well). It's quite a bizarre experience to watch a film structured like a TV episode because it so rarely happens. Surely it's not that hard of a mistake to avoid? There is no focus though and the story just keeps chopping from story to story - none of which are particularly interesting. I suppose the theory was if we don't have one good story to tell let's just tell five mediocre ones instead.

There are a tonne of cameos in the film by faces you'll recognise (most have long since passed the peak of their fame), but sadly none of the them are given any decent material to work with either. No effort or thought has gone into what they could do in their cameo scenes, they simply show show up, spew out a few lines to advance the story a little, and then are gone. It's almost like they only found out they were getting that particular actor in on the morning of shooting and didn't have any time to prepare something for them. Very disappointing.

The only positive I took from the film was John Goodman. He was literally the only one in the entire film who got a laugh out of me, and the movie is undoubtedly at its strongest when he is on screen. Willis looked tired to be honest. It's sad to see, but he has clearly lost his love for the industry and it is coming across brutally on screen. This is sadly yet another very poor film to add to his résumé.

Entertaining enough, a step to recovery for Willis

[amesmonde · 24 June 2017]

An ex-Los Angeles detective turned PI seeks out the ruthless gang that stole his dog.

Director, writer Mark Cullen's entertaining beach bum action caper which sees Bruce Willis as Steve Ford return to centre stage instead of small cameos. Thankfully Willis isn't just there to just pick up a pay cheque, its very much his own film, and he's as cheeky and charming as ever.

The on location feel captures the heat of Venice Beach and Cullen offers plenty of colourful locale visuals. The characters are all quirky and larger than life including humorous Jason Momoa as mumbling gangster Spider and Steve's heartfelt troubled friend Dave (excellent John Goodman). Things get more and more outlandish as Steve tries to solve a number of weird cases. Sadly, Famke Janssen is wasted as Katey Ford.

With echoes of the recent The Nice Guys (2016) there's a few shoot outs and double crosses with hints of watered down Tarantino thrown in for good measure, Cullen like the moments of comedy set these up with perfect timing thanks to some effective staging and Matt Deizel fine editing.

Overall, while not Willis' best it's an almost return to likes of Last Boy Scout form rather than Die Hard, still it's good fun and worth a viewing.

Really wish this movie was good

[phanthinga · 5/10 · 21 June 2017]

Bruce Willis with most famous for his Die Hard series and probably one of the best action hero in cinema history but in the past few years he kinda stuck with a bunch of horrible action movie which really upset me cause i used to be his fan.When i first heard about a movie called Once Upon a Time in Venice staring Bruce Willis with a very talented cast i though damn this movie might be good comeback for Bruce but the result is..... not that great.It may not as bad as some of his previous work i give you that it still not enough to bring Bruce back from the hole.Describe as a action comedy movie with a run time about 1h- 34min but in fact it a slow burn movie mainly about Bruce as a private detective(a very shitty one) solving crime around Venice until his dog get kidnap by a local drug dealer played by Jason Momoa(Yeah Aquaman himself).The movie does have some good sense of humor but sometime it feel force as hell.For the action part it not that much only near the end but it very unsatisfied and the terrible ending just add more bad taste in my mouth.It not a good movie in any mean but if you a Bruce Willis fan you can check it out

Better Than I Expected

[Athanatos173 · 7/10 · 31 March 2021]

I went into this one not exactly sure what I was going to get, considering Bruce Willis has churned out a phenomenal amount of bad movies at an astounding pace in recent years.

What I watched was, to myself at least, a movie that kept me laughing throughout as things just kept getting more and more complicated for Willis' character.

I must warn that if you are to watch this, don't expect the action star Bruce Willis, go in expecting something akin to Hudson Hawk, which is a guilty pleasure of mine that always gets me mocked by my friends.

Good comedic moments and fairly good acting for what it is.

Recommended.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul

[yard_boy · 5/10 · 25 June 2017]

Pure shtick that reminded me of the old "Airplane" movies. Bruce Willis does comedy well and has a great supporting cast: - a thin and bi-polar John Goodman - Famke Janssen in a much lighter role that her Blacklist espionage - a little bit of Kal Penn playing a 3rd world bodega clerk.

Willis has to jump through a web of interconnected heists in hope of recovering his stolen dog. The bits are klutzy and brilliant to the end. While I was amused, I cannot recommend over all the other greater movies.

Don't believe the hate.

[Eiriksterminator · 7/10 · 8 July 2017]

Man, the critics are so full of crap...I don't understand what's wrong with them. Whatever crawled up their ass and destroyed any sense of humour they might have had must have been pretty bad...Personally I found this to be an enjoyable and really quite funny movie. It made me chuckle several times. It also distinctly has some of the same feel to it as some classic 90's movies, which I also very much enjoyed. Rent it or something if you're unsure, but I recommend watching this movie on a relaxing evening when you don't have anything special to do. It's not a complex or intricate movie that requires you to use your brain, and won't win any awards, it's just good old simple fun. Don't expect too much action though. There's very little. This isn't Die Hard. This is, first and foremost, a comedy. One that I, personally, enjoyed.

Not an impressive movie, but Willis acted vividly.

[peterp-450-298716 · 5/10 · 27 September 2017]

"Never f*ck with a man's dog."

Either Venice Beach in L.A. is a tiny place at the ocean. Or Bruce Willis knows how to move around with incredibly speed. Because the pace at which he pops up in different places is impressive. Fortunately, it's not full naked on a skateboard the whole time, because that wasn't a pretty sight. Just like Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Aftermath", you can see that aging is getting to Bruce Willis. The result is a set of not so tight buttocks. But they are still muscular enough to clamp a revolver in between.

"Once upon a time in Venice" is a fairly chaotic story where Steve Ford (Bruce Willis), a private detective who solves ludicrous cases most of the time, gets into a lot of trouble when his dog is being stolen by a local gang. Well, John Wick also shot a bunch of gangsters, after they've killed his cute little dog. Proof that you should be careful with dog owners. Before Steve realizes it, he needs to fulfill a few assignments to get his dog back. And trust me, a few of those clients look and act absolutely weird.

Despite the satirical mood and some highly amusing characters, the whole story isn't so impressive. Perhaps it was their intention to make an action comedy, but unfortunately the humorous section was quite disappointing and the action part was limited to a number of skirmishes in the end. To be honest, for once, it's the enthusiasm of Bruce Willis's acting that surprised me. In this movie he doesn't have that uninterested, tired look and nonchalant attitude as he demonstrated before in a few meaningless films. No, once again you could see him appear with his sympathetic, cheerful look while quoting a few one-liners (though they weren't really witty). This time it felt as if the paycheck wasn't the main reason for him to participate in this film. The movie poster reminded me immediately of "The Last Boy Scout". Come to think of it. Wasn't he planning to buy a dog for his wife in that movie as well? In all probability a coincidence, I guess.

Personally I thought John Goodman (Did he loose weight?) stole the show as Steve's sidekick. His character looks as if he came straight out of "The Big Lebowski". A peculiar person and owner of a surf shop whose life is riding a fatalistic roller-coaster because of a messy divorce. But the moment he takes part in the action, as Steve's partner, he's as happy as a pig in shoes. The surprised look on his face when he sees Steve's weapon arsenal, is comparable to his overall performance. It's as if John Goodman didn't really know why he was in this movie in the first place. Which made it even more funny. Also Jason Momoa (last seen in "Bad Batch" playing an interesting role) did a great job. On the one hand, a lame persiflage-like part. But because it was greatly exaggerated, it became funny as well. And in between, you'll see a Jewish real estate owner called "Lew the Jew" (Adam Goldberg), who's troubled by a fanatic graffiti artist who paints explicit pornographic artwork on his buildings.

I often felt embarrassed about certain scenes while watching this movie. On the one hand, it was fun to see Bruce Willis acting with visible pleasure and without scruples. On the other hand, there were also some awkward performances to admire and the humorous level wasn't comparable to what Willis had done in the past. Perhaps it was a movie unworthy of such an actor as Bruce Willis, but compared to the other monstrosities he appeared in in the recent past, this comedy/action movie was still a little bit of an improvement.

More reviews here : http://bit.ly/2qtGQoc

Great entertainment

[dongillette1 · 7/10 · 17 June 2017]

When you look at the trash they're passing off as movies this year, you'll appreciate Once Upon a Time in Venice. The characters are hilarious, especially the ones portrayed by John Goodman and Thomas Middleditch. Jason Momoa cracked me up, too--I wasn't sure the guy could act at all until I saw this. The premise and plot are ridiculous but the way Bruce Willis plays it straight shows that he's still great at what he started out doing - playing the same smart-ass detective he played in Moonlighting. Probably the best thing about the movie was the eventual partnership between Willis and Goodman. They should do more movies together. Two larger than life characters on screen at the same time with neither one taking all the attention is unusual. Is it an Oscar nominee? This year, it ought to be.

Started out promising, but soon I discovered this was just another failed attempt at comedy. Much better though than all his other gangster flops. 4 points for trying.

[imseeg · 4/10 · 24 February 2019]

Started out promising, but soon I discovered this was just another failed attempt at comedy. Much better though than all his other gangster flops. 4 points for trying. Bruce should do more comedy though. "Moonlightning" and "Blind Date" were 2 of his best works for me, truly hilarious. Even in "Die Hard" Bruce could be really funny.

Did Bruce have plastic surgery, by the way? It would explain his wooden face. His face used to be much more expressive in the nineties. But his total presence is so wooden these days. His energy seems to be lacking big time. He used to be so aggresive and wild. Now he just looks like he is on a diet of sleeping pills with his monotone voice and wooden face.

Solid entertainment of Bruce doing his trademark shtick

[diggler_inc · 8/10 · 25 June 2017]

This movie has been getting a lot of hate.

The problem is that is is a good movie but far from a great movie.

What you get is solid entertainment and Bruce Willis returns to acting in the way that made him popular. The problem is that people are used to seeing him do that in really good movies so it looks bad when done in just a decently good movie like this.

This is the type of quirky film that was popular in the 90's but feels a bit tired in this day and age.

Still, it was a very enjoyable way to spend some time.

A step above the rest

[motivatedmonkey · 7/10 · 17 June 2017]

I watched this film last night and was pleasantly surprised.

A cast of A listers from the last 20 years, and a plot line that didn't result in me knowing what was going to happen well in advance. The jokes kept me laughing and the story kept me interested. Overall give it a 7.5 out of 10 .

C+ If This Had Been a Fim School Project

[leftbanker-1 · 2/10 · 30 June 2017]

It's almost impossible to know just where to start eviscerating this free-for-all of bad movie making so I'll start with the most obvious. Bruce Willis as a skateboard dude. Or maybe John Goodman as a surfer dude? It's like the writers taped a bunch of action movie clichés on a roulette wheel and let it spin. They did this 4-5 times and took all of the clichés and pasted them together not worrying in the least about making any sort of sense because they would use a lot of terrible jokes and lame stabs at humor to tell the audience that they don't take themselves seriously.

I would give this 5 stars if they had ad-libbed the entire movie and had filmed it in real time because that's sort of what it looks like to me. The fact that they actually worked from a script just boggles the mind.

I've already forgotten the completely forgettable story, or what passed for a story. The only saving grace of the film was the city of Venice.

Yikes! Not even Die Hard Brucie fans will like this!

[khunkrumark · 1/10 · 20 August 2017]

I bloody love Bruce Willis... always have liked him since he was the silly and annoying David Allison on Moonlighting. The guy's got moxie!

But this is horrible. An annoying clown, Thomas Middleditch, narrates his way through the movie because we're too stupid to figure it out on our own. Every time this tosser appears on screen or says anything I just want to punch him in the face. Why he's even there at all is beyond me... unless it's to make everyone else look good!

Bruce Willis and John Goodman look bored. They have clearly been blackmailed into doing this crap-fest. Either that or the money was worth sacrificing their dignity for.

I hope Bruce finds an interest in making good movies again. The bloke is a talented comedy actor... but he's also been coming across like a burned out, lazy, spoiled git in the last few years.

As for the movie itself... the (alleged) comedy is forced and stilted. The characters are dull and difficult to engage with. Bruce naked skateboarding on a busy street isn't funny. It should be, but the ham-fisted direction destroys it.

Bruce looks like he's following the Robert De Niro school of acting career trajectories... make some classic stuff when you're young and ride the wave for as long as you can!

Some things should never be seen - that cannot be unseen

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 6/10 · 13 July 2017]

Interesting and funny story with a beautiful Venice CA setting wasn't enough for me to cringe each time Bruce Willis tried to portray a skater dude. Seriously? Either cast a different (age appropriate) character or get rid of the skateboard. But no matter what you do, do not, I repeat do not put Bruce Willis naked on a skateboard. Some things should never be seen - that cannot be unseen, and really ruined the film for me. Luckily John Goodman came to the rescue with his hilarious and pathetic character, but the real hero here is Jason Momoa as the gangster. I never imagined him in such a funny role, but he nailed this one! So it's a 6/10 from me, saving a lower score only from John Goodman and Jason Momoa.

Sorry Bruce

[leettj · 1/10 · 23 June 2017]

Bruce & John were actors I liked. I was greatly disappointed. Bruce used to make great action movies n I have liked him since TV's Moonlighting. I really tried liking or at least bearing with it but I left after 40 mins. Sorry. Skateboarding nude? And the jokes fell flat for me. John tried to save the day but it's tough with a shallow story line like this. Where are the die hard scripts? May have been predictable but still great.

Not the best movie but it is a fun movie.

[subxerogravity · 6/10 · 18 June 2017]

Star power is not what it used to be, I guess.

Little surprised this movie did not get a bigger released. Bruce Willis stars with a few other well-known folks, well known enough to get a bigger release than it did. The movie is OK at best granted, but I've seen worse films with a similar set of names get a bigger release.

Loved Bruce Willis in it. Very fun and vibrant not phoning it in even though this is a phone it in Movie. Jason Momoa is in it, and it feels like you'd want to see Momoa and Willis in an action movie together (Even though it could turn out like Mona in a film with Stallone(Bullet to the Head ), but Momoa was attempting more comedy in this action comedy. He wanted to do something funny and he was funny, or rather had a lot of funny moments. Oh and I should mention John Goodman is in this. Cause who wouldn't want to see a flick with Goodman in it right?

Overall, saying it's a good movie is too much. It's OK. I'd expect more from a movie Willis actually put some effort into rather than just making an over gloried cameo for a check like I've seen him do in movies of this stature before, but I did love him in it and it is very good for some solid laughs.

So, not a waste of time at all.

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wow....not sure how this was even made

[mompaxton-481-121381 · 3/10 · 21 June 2017]

Not even sure how this 2 hours of film was even made. It was so extremely bad that it held your attention just to see how much worse it could get. In that aspect, I was not disappointed. Just watching a very naked Bruce Willis skateboarding down Venice Blvd made me realize this movie was going to go down the drain fast. You just can't unsee things now that I've seen a 60 year old Bruce naked. Yikes. No one dies, but it's the John Wick idea if John Wick was an idiot. Over a stolen dog begins the chain of events that leads down moron street and dead ends in the cul-de-sac of "why am I watching this". As for Jason Momoa trying to portray a Latino gang banger drug lord named Spyder was just hilarious because we all know Jason Momoa just can't act. Leave the shirt off Jason and just don't speak please. Wow, I want my 2 hours back.

7 out of 10

[raimondas-karciauskas · 7/10 · 29 June 2017]

Really funny. Made my day. Don't like Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler type of fun, so this one was something really hilarious. It's good to see Bruce and John enjoying themselves. Sometimes John even reminded of "Big Lebowski". 7 out of 10 - well, Buddy was a little bit unconvincing.

Tries too hard

[reallyevilboy · 1/10 · 21 June 2017]

I eventually turned this off. (hence the 1 out of 10) I gave it over an hour to actually captivate me but it failed so dramatically that I turned off in anger.

This movie tries so hard and fails so hard. It tries hard to be funny and you end up feeling like you're watching a 5 year old making jokes. It tries too hard to be smart but it takes a smart person to make a smart script and not look like they're a Mr smartypants wannabee. This person is a Mr smartypants wannabee. It tries too hard to be sexy and just looks Chauvinistic.

There was some potential here but completely lost.

Took me away for a moment!

[beelliss88 · 8/10 · 19 June 2017]

OK people look, when you see a great star in the title you would expect a great movie, and for me this was great! Yes it is not a killer action flick, however, it is an awesome movie that will take you away for just a little bit. It has the whole "After Hours" movie feel to it, meaning you do not know what is going to happen next! When Spider said "Google it holmes", I fought the urge to chuckle but it did not work, I chuckled!! John Goodmans "lost, not giving a crap anymore vibe" was great! All in all it was a movie that, again, takes you away for a bit. By the way the graffiti on the building, all be it raunchy, was freaking funny!!

Awful

[simonwallis · 4 October 2018]

You have to wonder where the Bruce of 12 monkeys,Unbreakable,sixth sense,sin city to name a few, has gone. This is truly awful,not sure if a vanity project or something just thrown together at the last minute. Can't think of a single reason anyone else should have to suffer this,I've done it for you. Wise cracking guy loses his dog to a drug dealer,has to get said drug dealers stolen drugs back to get dog back. Various other characters involved,one being Bruce's junior PI partner/trainee who is also the films annoying narrator. That's basically the plot,I like some of Willis's work,every now and then he plays a blinder,this isn't one of those times.

Not Perfect

[zeelu-89550 · 6/10 · 10 June 2022]

I see a lot of bad reviews but I liked it. Not a perfect movie by any means but had some funny moments, really solid cast, and action. It's definitely worth a watch.

Quirky comic thriller is all over the place

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 19 April 2018]

ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENICE is a quirky comedy thriller set in California. It's another straight to video effort for ageing action man Bruce Willis, playing up to his wise guy persona by tackling the role of a tired and caffeine-addicted private detective who goes off the deep end when the dog he's been dogsitting is kidnapped. This is a low budget and quite bizarre little outing at times, variously copying the likes of JOHN WICK and PULP FICTION at times. The cast is populated by a tapestry of oddball characters, some of whom work, some of whom don't. There's a lot of sex and a lot of shouting and a few witty scenes. Tonally it's all over the place, too often wallowing in toilet and crude humour, as well as repetition (the amount of times Willis gets knocked out without suffering any after effects). Willis is okay, just okay, with his most memorable scene being the nude skateboarding moment which is achieved via some digital trickery. The ever-excellent John Goodman gives the best performance to my mind, although it's nice to see Jason Momoa playing something other than a stock tough guy. Thomas Middleditch is also quite amusing, which I wasn't expecting at all so kudos to him.