Smokin' Aces (2007)
Average Rating: 4.4/10
Reviews Counted: 155
Fresh: 45 | Rotten: 110
A violent mess of a movie, Smokin' Aces has some Quentin Tarantino's style but not much of his wit or humor.
Average Rating: 3.9/10
Critic Reviews: 38
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 32
A violent mess of a movie, Smokin' Aces has some Quentin Tarantino's style but not much of his wit or humor.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 312,179
Movie Info
When a shifty magician turns state's evidence against a Las Vegas underworld heavy, the high price placed on his head sparks a fevered race to rub the snitch out and collect a tidy paycheck in Narc director Joe Carnahan's dark action comedy. Buddy "Aces" Israel (Jeremy Piven) is a small-time scammer who has somehow managed to get the goods on big-time mobster Primo Sparazza. Upon discovering that Buddy is about to deliver the evidence needed to get him thrown in jail for life, Primo takes out a
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Cast
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Ben Affleck
Jack Dupree -
Andy Garcia
Stanley Locke -
Alicia Keys
Georgia Sykes -
Ray Liotta
Donald Carruthers -
Jeremy Piven
Buddy 'Aces' Israel -
Ryan Reynolds
Richard Messner -
Peter Berg
'Pistol' Pete Deeks -
Taraji P. Henson
Sharice Watters -
Chris Pine
Darwin Tremor -
Martin Henderson
Hollis Elmore -
Jason Bateman
Rupert 'Rip' Reed -
Common
Sir Ivy -
Joel Edgerton
Hugo Croop -
Curtis Armstrong
Morris Mecklen -
David Proval
Victor Padiche -
Tommy Flanagan
Lazlo Soot -
Joseph Ruskin
Primo Sparazza -
Christopher Michael Holle...
Beanie -
Nestor Carbonell
Pasquale Acosta 'S.A. G... -
Kevin Durand
Jeeves Tremor -
Vladimir Kulich
The Swede -
Maury Sterling
Lestor Tremor -
Matthew Fox
Bill Security Super -
Alex Rocco
Serna -
Wayne Newton
Wayne Newton -
Mike Falkow
Freeman Heller -
Joe Drago
FBI Aide -
Jeff Habberstad
Top Coated Gunman -
Davenia McFadden
Loretta Wyman -
George Fisher
McGarey -
Janet Edwards
Naked Prostitute -
Suzanne Stover
Prostitute 1 -
Scott Halberstadt
Pimply Casino Employee -
Lorna Scott
Hotel Receptionist -
Lonnie Moore
Gary The Security Guard -
Patrick St. Esprit
Moustache -
Steve Florian
Security Member -
Robert J. Weir
Security Member -
Zach Cumer
Warren -
Ken Rudulph
CS Team Member -
Christopher Murray
Chief, Sergeant -
Michael Murphy
Sheriff Badger -
Marianne Muellerleile
Margie Turlock -
Stefanie Cruz
Reporter -
John Alston
Reporter -
Brian Bloom
Agent Baker -
Paul Wilson
Magician -
Scott Bloom
FBI Agent 3 -
Alfred Woodley
FBI Agent 2 -
James Conkle
Young Buddy -
Clare Carey
Laverne -
David 'Goldy' Goldsmith
Stage Manager -
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Smokin' Aces Trailer & Photos
All Critics (159) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (45) | Rotten (110) | DVD (25)
It wants to be a Tarantino-esque dark comedy about gun-slinging, substance-abusing lowlifes. But instead it's a convoluted, slap-happy, humorless bloodfest.
Top CriticNot a fresh idea emerges from this risible exercise in muscle-car camerawork, squib-crazy shoot-outs and self-admiring pyrotechnics.
We just sit there numbly, awaiting the next sensation and trying, without notable success, to comprehend the preposterous backstory.
Violence is spread throughout the film, and some of it is entertaining, I have to admit. But the climax at Buddy's Tahoe penthouse is Tarantino on speed.
Did Carnahan think these sickening scenes would give Smokin' Aces a moral complexity that's generally absent from this genre? I think they make the picture seem even more morally bankrupt.
Smokin Aces is a Viagra suppository for compulsive action fetishists and a movie that may not only be dumb in itself, but also the cause of dumbness in others.
A guilt-free return to the kind of stylish action thrillers that rely on strong characters just as much as they do carnage.
The poor man's Guy Ritchie, which is sad since the poor man already has Guy Ritchie
The best Tarantino riff of 1994.
Could've been a classic belch of grindhouse-throwback foolishness if not for Carnahan's apparent need to take his story seriously after all.
A great ensemble cast, along with excellent direction makes this a gem worth the watch...
Smokin' Aces isn't the most original endeavor, but it has enough wit, action and dramatic weight to carve out its own rightful place of honor in the crime film genre.
An uneven, overly stylized mess that wants to recall Quentin Tarantino, but which only mines the glitz, not the depth or the sharpness of Tarantino's dialogue.
It's flashy and feels hip, but I wonder if it's all just a smokescreen much like the one in the film's plot.
It's instantly engrossing, stays great for about 45 minutes and good for another 20, then begins collapsing under the oppressive weight of taking itself very, very seriously.
It's never boring for a minute, and it's a ridiculous, fun waste of time.
The biggest and most unfortunate problem with Smokin' Aces is the complete lack of anyone to root for or even against.
does little more than ape some vague Quentin Tarantino/Guy Ritchie cinematic style
A list of players doesn't quite indicate the pile-on of firepower that will converge for the final showdown, or the convolutions of plot that draw everyone to the same location.
Will you enjoy Smokin' Aces? That depends on your acceptance of the following: several pages worth of four letter words; huge bloody body counts; and nudity that is nothing more than set decoration. That's a call you will have to make for yourself.
Trying too hard is the death of cool in any genre -- especially a dead one -- and Smokin' Aces has all the sophisticated plotting of a splatter-happy video game.
Every criminal has to have a quirk. That guy's a cross-dresser. He's a master of disguise. They're Nazis. She's a lesbian... Ridiculous cretins like these will make you long for the thoughtful characterizations of Boss Hogg and Sheriff Roscoe.
Repellant for reasons that would take a week to list, but the biggest one is that it tries to revive a film movement that not only should stay buried, but should not have lived in the first place.
It wants to be so many things at once that it never truly finds its focus, and yet it manages to be quite a blast anyway.
Frenetic to the point of assaultive, Smokin' Aces resembles nothing so much as last year's Lucky Number Slevin, except with even more plot reversals, most of which don't hold up under scrutiny.
Audience Reviews for Smokin' Aces
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Super Reviewer
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- FBI Agent 2: Check the vitals on this guy.
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Latest News on Smokin' Aces
November 4, 2008:
Smokin' Aces Prequel Is UnderwayAccording to Joe Carnahan's latest blog entry, Universal has "officially greenlit" his prequel to...
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October 2, 2007:
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Movie: ID: 387399996 Title: Smokin' Aces Release Date: 2007-01-26 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
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