Unfortunately, the Cullens deal primarily in the superficial, which all but negates this effort. Willis fits the part well and they pepper the film with enough incident to both keep the story afloat and allow a threaded character study. The Cullens clearly wanted to tell a character-based story starring Willis as a lax private dick who acts his shoe size rather than his age, and to their mild credit, they have all the material for that kind of feature.
Plus, for a 90-minute film, there's way too much padding to speak of, especially in the first "act," if you can call it that. It features a completely unnecessary, wholly smug voiceover, courtesy of Middleditch. It's amiable and pleasant, but never exactly funny. There are plenty of thinly-sketched characters whom the film discards or forgets at will until they're suddenly necessary for any given scene.
It awkwardly shuffles along from scene to scene while introducing various inane plot points that abruptly conclude before they're developed. Its bare bones plot isn't the issue (Willis' beloved pup has been stolen by Jason Momoa and his drug gang) since it mostly strives for an ambling, shaggy dog tone, but it has no rhythm. It's genuinely nice to see him work in that mode.īut though Willis, Goodman, and roughly half of the large supporting cast (which includes Thomas Middleditch, Adam Goldberg, Wood Harris, and Kal Penn, just to name a few) acquit themselves well, "Once Upon a Time in Venice" largely suffers from profound laziness.
#Once upon a time in venice crack
The film mostly consists of two-hander scenes where Willis gets to crack wise with various character actors, and generally be a likable screen presence. He plays Steve Ford, a private eye in Venice Beach who appears to mostly just skateboard, sleep around, talk shop with his recently-divorced, mildly depressed best friend Dave ( John Goodman, also cutting loose and having fun), and occasionally solve minor mysteries. The best thing that can be said about "Once Upon a Time in Venice," a very light action comedy from Mark and Robb Cullen, is that it allows Willis to cut loose and have fun.
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