Stark Raving Mad Details

Writer/director team Drew Daywalt and David Schneider take an obvious leaf out of cinematic magpie Quentin Tarantino's book for their debut feature. Executively produced by Tarantino's longtime business partner Lawrence Bender, this highly derivative heist comedy patches together a ragtag assortment of multi-genre clichés, pop culture references and flashy camera techniques. Coming across like Human Traffic meets Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, it follows debt-ridden twentysomething Ben McGewen (Seann William Scott) and his slacker pals as they struggle to pull off a bank robbery using a nightclub rave as cover. Throw into the mix a vengeful Mob boss (a blond-haired Lou Diamond Phillips), undercover federal agents, Chinese gangsters and even a couple of transvestites, and you've got an engagingly daft, if predictable feature. Admittedly, it's not what you'd call demanding viewing, and the reliance on jump cuts, not to mention the pulsating rave soundtrack, won't be to everybody's taste. But then if dance music and trippy visuals give you a headache, you're probably too old for the film anyway.

Five hapless robbers attempt to break into a bank while hosting a club night at the Lucky Dragon next door. The prize... read more on Time Out