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Snatch, Guilty Pleasure

Snatch Poster.jpg Actually, there shouldn’t be much guilt in liking Guy Ritchie’s Snatch. The original New York Times movie review spoke fairly favorably of the film and it was a Critic’s Pick. However, Ebert was a bit down on the film thinking it a tad too similar to Ritchie’s previous Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Maybe it’s Ritchie’s marital association with Madonna that engenders the guilt.

Snatch is a fairly comedic, frenetic gangster romp, set mainly in England. A garish cast of dumb thugs conveniently run into each other repeatedly across multiple plot threads. Ritchie’s hyperkinetic editing style keeps things moving. Some highlights:

  • Brad Pitt playing a well-nigh incomprehensible Irish Gypsy boxer.

  • Character names like: Brick Top, Turkish, Franky Four Fingers, Bullet Tooth Tony, and Boris “The Blade”

  • Tyrone as not the most nimble, of mind or of foot, getaway driver.

  • Jason Statham’s typical cool machismo. He’s not completely monotone in this one, exhibiting a bit of comedic timing.

  • Benicio Del Toro masquerading as a Hasidic Jew to rob an Antwerp diamond broker. Vere is da stoooone?.

  • Nicola and Teena Collins as easy on the eyes twin daughters of Doug “The Head”, a wannabe Jewish diamond dealer.

What clinched Snatch as a keeper for me was when Cousin Avi, Dennis Farina, responded to the customs officer’s “Anything to declare?” with “Yeah. Don’t go to England”.

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