The Quickie (2001) Reviews

• What was everyone else watching?

  fstryjak2005-05-09

  Once again I am a little confused by the websites 'plot outline' and many of the other comments. This film seemed to me to be very little about the relationship between mother and son (only one important scene where the mob boss reproached his mother for being a drunk all his life), and more about a great number of other things. Sibling rivalry, the decadence that accompanies a criminal life, how life and money ultimately become of little value, how love can surface in the most unlikely circumstance, etc etc. The 'hitman' who was exceptionally good at the job and the mob boss fell for the exterminator in spite of himself. The irony of his brother 'sussing' what someone was up to and being over-ridden was not lost on him. I thought it was a well made depiction of a dysfunctional family and its final disintegration. The storyline flowed, there was great attention to detail - a bug exterminator would be looking in all the rooms and a nervous mob member would get itchy about it - and though it wasn't a Hollywood glitz-flick I thought it was all the more authentic because of it. I really enjoyed it.

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• A hitwoman in the midst of the Russian mob forms the premise for some subtle commentary on the lifestyles of the rich and shameless.

  TheVid2003-09-08

  This minor independent is not nearly as bad it's being made out to be if one goes beyond the plot device and into the psychology of the protagonists, Leigh and Mashkov, who seem to convey the kind of hopeless boredom with their life circumstances that explains a lot of their behavior rather thoughtfully. Particularly notable is the way the film uses the destructive characteristics of marriage and family as the contributing factors to the decadence and corruption of nearly everyone in the story. Interestingly ambivalent and observant look at moral decay.

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• Depressing romantic mob movie

  yeodawg2011-11-12

  A quickie is about a Russian Mob Boss who tries to purchase sex from an exterminator hired to clean up after a party. Hokay it opens up with one of the worst parties ever, instead of bringing presents they brought their baggage to the party. most of the characters are the usual suspect. Stereotypical in mob movies but ring true. His ex-wife with her new gigolo. Another aged mobster with his young cheating wife. Some upstarts playboy young turks fighting over who will be higher on the pecking order. Everyones depressed, everyones at each others throats. Somebody finds a message that the head guy has been marked for death. mind you he's got a gun to his head playing Russian Roulette at the time. So once the message is got, he and his henchmen swing into action to keep him alive, I don't know why seeing as how bad his life is.

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• Complete Disappointment

  james-brandon-12006-06-05

  Any fan of Russian cinema will have great difficulty in believing the sub-par performances phoned-in by Mashkov and Bodrov Jr., and will perhaps be utterly perplexed by Bodrov Sr.'s hackneyed and confusing script, which is coupled with uncharacteristically weak direction. Most of the characters wander through the movie as though they have no idea who they are or what they are doing. It is also sad to see that Jennifer Jason Leigh's acting skills have not advanced one iota since FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, and her screen exposure is mercifully limited. This is a terrible mafia movie; so much so that it makes the GODFATHER III look like a winner in the genre. To see the key Russians at their best, check out Bodrov Sr.'s work on PRISONER OF THE MOUNTAINS (which also features Jr.), Mashkov's turn in VOR (THE THIEF), and Bodrov Jr.'s new criminal in BRAT.

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• Bad story badly told

  alekdavis2003-04-11

  I wanted to see this movie because I liked "Kavkazskij Plennik" ("Prisoner of the Mountains") and "Brat" ("Brother") with Sergey Bodrov, Jr. and "Vor" ("The Thief") with Vladimir Mashkov. Well, unlike the other movies, "The Quickie" was a total waste of time. The story that makes little sense, very uneven acting (Lesley Ann Warren was especially bad), really awful dialogs, poor cinematography, what else could go wrong? I find it amusing that in practically every American-made movie, when the same-language-speaking foreigners (Russians in this case) are left alone, they prefer to communicate with each other mostly in broken English (and when they happen to speak Russian, for some reason translators feel obligated to add a lot of "f**ks" in the sentences, which have no profanity, literal or non-literal). At the same time, native-English-speaking actors choose to speak in broken Russian. Why is that? Getting back to the story, most of the subplots of the movie (e.g. betting the house, inviting Latin American paramilitaries, etc) either make no sense or do nothing more than confusing the viewers. It is too bad that Bodrov, Mashkov, and Leigh (all good actors in my humble opinion) got themselves involved in this disaster.

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