by MATTHEW HAYS

Witness the poor sod that is Barry Pepper who, in Knockaround Guys, plays the offspring of a famous and well-established Mafia icon (Dennis Hopper). At a young age, the film’s opening sequence informs us, Pepper’s character backed away from killing someone who was responsible for his father’s imprisonment. Thus Pepper is branded non-Mafia material, a part of the family but not a working member of the family—sub-status, to be sure.

Cut to adulthood, and Pepper can’t seem to find work in the wonderful world of sports, as his last name makes him somewhat untouchable. Pepper tries one last time for legitimacy within the family, begging pop for an assignment.

The task involves picking up $500,000 in loot in Montana. As expected, everything that could go wrong does, with Seth Green pulling a nice turn as a sweet bungler. Pepper, Green, Vin Diesel and Andrew Davoli must stake out this rural bit of America in a desperate effort to find out exactly where pop’s loot has landed.

Pepper et al. do a not-bad job of bringing it all to life, as does the always-excellent Tom Noonan as the hick sheriff of the small town. The key parts of the comedy and drama here are provided by clashes between big-city mob life and small-town life—a bit of a movie cliché, but writer-producer-directors Brian Koppelman and David Levien manage to breathe at least some life into the events.

Mob movies are always a hoot, though this one didn’t exactly fare well when the press screening was held right after the 20-minute trailer for Martin Scorsese’s much-anticipated historical mob epic Gangs of New York. Though it’s hard to judge that movie by a mere 20 minutes, the screening was a reminder of all the great mob-related things that director has done before. As well, Knockaround Guys, while competently executed, suffers in comparison to our collective ongoing infatuation with TV’s The Sopranos. Ultimately, Guys makes a passable offer, but certainly one you can refuse. :

Knockaround Guys opens Friday, Oct. 11

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