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Critics Consensus: Once Upon a Time in Venice has a little more of a spark than typical late-period Bruce Willis tough guy movies, but it's still a steep, disappointing tumble from his best work.
Critic Consensus: Once Upon a Time in Venice has a little more of a spark than typical late-period Bruce Willis tough guy movies, but it's still a steep, disappointing tumble from his best work.
All Critics (34) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (6) | Rotten (28)
Once Upon a Time in Venice is a sterling example of how a lazy star can make a bad movie even worse.
That hissing sound you hear is the air being let out of Bruce Willis as he struggles mightily to reconnect with once-vital action-comedy chops in the dim, unfunny Once Upon a Time in Venice.
Of course Willis employs his trademark smirk and his familiar sarcastic line readings. Of course we've seen him play variations on this downtrodden, wisecracking cynic in better movies. But B-movie Willis is still kind of a hoot.
Once Upon a Time in Venice frequently sags underneath its own general lethargy, and not even the snarkiest John McClane can fix that.
It's as much a snapshot of a screwball neighborhood as it is a loose-ended shaggy dog story, with a weird, buoyant spirit that lifts it up over its somewhat sloppy storytelling.
Bruce Willis barks up a number of wrong trees in this scattered, only sparsely amusing shaggy-dog mystery.
Not funny enough or crazy enough, when it could be a "gangsters stole my dog" B-movie caper; Bruce Willis is amiable, John Goodman underused. Buddy the dog doesn't make an appearance for ages -- he deserved better (and I'm a cat person).
Despite having an all-star talented cast, Once Upon A Time In Venice doesn't live up to the action comedies that preceded it despite a talented cast.
The script is awful and the goofy stunts are not as entertaining as you expect them to be.
Once Upon A Time In Venice is clearly a film made by cinephiles, but the scattered subplots and underdeveloped characters combine for an overall misfire.
Imagine Hudson Hawk barrelling along Abbot Kinney Boulevard, collecting John Wick as he enters from Brooks Avenue, before both are rammed by the Inherent Vice bus on Main.
An ultra-lite version of Paul Thomas Anderson's "Inherent Vice," "Once Upon a Time in Venice" is a sunny SoCal noir so inconsequential it seems to evaporate as it plays out.
I watch this film and just know there was an interesting film somewhere, unfortunately this isn't a Bruce Willis comeback. The film lacks that central performance, Willis has moments but the likable rebel role he was so great with, isn't there anymore. You know there must have been issues with the making of the film when the supporting actor narrates and is the most interesting. I've heard grumblings about Willis on set and much like Cop Out, also written by the same filmmakers here, he caused reshoots and unplanned scenes while filming. There are so many great actors, I can't feel but there is a giant missed opportunity with this film and it's very disappointing to see the results of a chaotic production. The first 15 minutes are quite good but after that it gets lost with a very simplistic plotline. 05-07-2017.
Super Reviewer
A patently unfunny comedy, whose audience-gateway character is the most annoying of the bunch. Moderately uplifted by setting, the fact that Bruce Willis wasn't 100% phoning it in for once, John Goodman once again "going through some stuff", and the always endearing Jason Momoa... Who is apparently Mexican for some reason.
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