Palmetto
In A Town This Bad It's No Use Being Good.
Stage a bogus kidnapping, collect the ransom, take 10% off the top and have a nice life, see ya later. They told Harry Barber the plan would run like clockwork. But it's hapless Harry who's running out of time.
Woody Harrelson is Harry, a Florida drifter who goes from perpetrator to patsy when lured into an abduction scam proposed by a mysterious blonde.
Member Reviews
Obviously 'Noir' Isn't All That Easy to Pull Off - Gregg
Story of a reporter (Woody Harrelson) who is released from jail after two years for a crime he did not commit and returns reluctantly (?) to the woman (Gina Gershon) who loves him in the small Florida town of Palmetto. Unemployed and down on his luck he is sitting in a bar where he meets a rich and attractive woman (Elizabeth Shue) who has a proposition for him involving the fake kidnapping of the woman’s step daughter (Chloe Sevigny), in an effort to secure for both of them the money they really want.
Sometimes style wins out over substance and sometimes it doesn’t, and this film is a good example of the latter. Far too many little quirks are included here in an attempt to make things appear and feel stylish and most of them simply do not work while others actually become laughable, that and the story just seems tired and predictable. There is a lot to admire in the ‘noir’ tradition but it has to be done right and here it seems the timing and everything else is just a little off, the double crosses are obvious, the irony is painfully overdone and as I have already mentioned the style is over the top. To put another couple of nails in the coffin, the characters behavior often makes no sense whatsoever and Harrelson’s portrayal suffers her for already having played far to many ‘dumb chumps’ in his career.
Member Reviews
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Obviously 'Noir' Isn't All That Easy to Pull Off - Gregg
Story of a reporter (Woody Harrelson) who is released from jail after two years for a crime he did not commit and returns reluctantly (?) to the woman (Gina Gershon) who loves him in the small Florida town of Palmetto. Unemployed and down on his luck he is ...