Watch and Download Loosies Movie 2011
The tale of a pickpocket's redemption through love, plus a vengeance-seeking cop and assorted betrayals, "Loosies" weakly channels Sam Fuller's "Pickup on South Street" but without the explosive action, iconic thesping and stylistic punch. Produced and written by star Peter Facinelli (Dr. Carlisle Cullen of the "Twilight" franchise) and directed by Michael Corrente ("Federal Hill"), pic offers some funky down-home Gothamites, a few minor thrills, strained romantic banter and an improbably convenient solution to its central conflict. Opened Wednesday at Gotham's IFC Center after its VOD bow, this sporadically charming item is better suited to the smallscreen.
Click here to download Loosies movie
Playing like a Knocked Up for the penny-ante underworld (minus the jokes), Michael Corrente's Loosies is a vanity project that might have stayed afloat had star/writer Peter Facinelli only tried to sell himself as a none-too-bright crook on the run from bad luck. Making romance a big part of the mix dooms a movie already saddled with one of the worst titles in recent memory.
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Click here to download Loosies
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A "loosie" is a cigarette sold individually instead of by-the-pack; it's also a homophone for Lucy (Jaimie Alexander), a bartender whose one-night-stand with Bobby (Facinelli) resulted in an unwanted pregnancy. Bobby, a pickpocket who told Lucy he was a stockbroker, would know about the pregnancy if the cad hadn't given her a fake phone number the next morning; he doesn't find out until the two accidentally meet three months later.
By that point, Bobby has other problems: He lifted a cop's badge a while back and dumbly used it to get a free cab ride, igniting a scandal that has the cop (Michael Madsen) on the warpath; he's trying to pay off his dead dad's $500 thousand gambling debt with the watches and cell phones he steals for an edgy, karate-obsessed fence (Vincent Gallo); and his mom is sleeping with Joe Pantoliano.
Corrente is at a disadvantage here, with every interesting face in the cast stuck in a supporting role. Scenes between Facinelli and Alexander go nowhere, and are rarely more believable than the forced coincidence of their three-months-later reunion.
The movie's crime-flick elements are hardly more credible than the pregnancy plot (we're meant to believe, for instance, that Madsen's couldn't-care-less flatfoot was on track to become Chief of Police), but they have a grindhouse quality that makes Loosies almost fun in flashes. But flashes are all they are -- pleasures even more fleeting than an off-brand smoke bummed from strangers in an alley.
Though Bobby (Facinelli), a consummate pickpocket, was forced into crime by his late father's $500,000 debt to loan shark Jax (Vincent Gallo), he nevertheless thrives on his quick wits and agile fingers, which give him a sense of superiority to his wealthy prey. But Bobby's carefree days soon turn problematic.
His latest cocky escapade -- stealing a cop's badge and using it to commandeer a free cab ride -- has made headlines and enraged the cop in question (Michael Madsen), who hunts him down in earnest.
Click here to Loosies download
His home is invaded, first by a mouse, who drives his mother (Marianne Leone) into fruit-throwing hysterics, and next by a strange man in red underpants (Joe Pantoliano), who turns out to be his mother's sleep-over fiance. Then the cops descend.
The real game-changer, though, comes when a one-night stand with a clearly nice girl, Lucy (Jaimie Alexander), leaves her pregnant, forcing Bobby to make decisions and take responsibility. Corrente attempts to show his characters drifting aimlessly around the city until they make a love connection, but these exterior scenes, with their quick cutting and slick lensing, wind up looking a tad too much like an ad for Gotham Cool, especially as they stand in calculated contrast to the long takes and strung-out emotional confrontations that dominate elsewhere.
The film's occasional flashes of thesp authenticity are largely supplied by Pantoliano, who makes his most hackneyed lines sound completely natural and oddly endearing.
Gallo's entertainingly sinister screwball, though convincing, never relates to anything or anyone around him; even an ever-present kid (Eric Phillips), who hangs out playing computer games in Jax's apartment, functions more as a bit of local color than a character.
Alexander's perf, despite the actress' obvious potential, cannot survive her character's brusque mood swings between anger and tenderness. Most significantly, Facinelli's transformation from feckless charmer to committed caretaker seems contrived, leaving the film feeling like a series of stitched-together scenes with little internal drive.
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The tale of a pickpocket's redemption through love, plus a vengeance-seeking cop and assorted betrayals, "Loosies" weakly channels Sam Fuller's "Pickup on South Street" but without the explosive action, iconic thesping and stylistic punch. Produced and written by star Peter Facinelli (Dr. Carlisle Cullen of the "Twilight" franchise) and directed by Michael Corrente ("Federal Hill"), pic offers some funky down-home Gothamites, a few minor thrills, strained romantic banter and an improbably convenient solution to its central conflict. Opened Wednesday at Gotham's IFC Center after its VOD bow, this sporadically charming item is better suited to the smallscreen.
Click here to download Loosies movie
Playing like a Knocked Up for the penny-ante underworld (minus the jokes), Michael Corrente's Loosies is a vanity project that might have stayed afloat had star/writer Peter Facinelli only tried to sell himself as a none-too-bright crook on the run from bad luck. Making romance a big part of the mix dooms a movie already saddled with one of the worst titles in recent memory.
our editor recommends
Click here to download Loosies
'Twilight' Actor Peter Facinelli to Produce Whitey Bulger Biopic
A "loosie" is a cigarette sold individually instead of by-the-pack; it's also a homophone for Lucy (Jaimie Alexander), a bartender whose one-night-stand with Bobby (Facinelli) resulted in an unwanted pregnancy. Bobby, a pickpocket who told Lucy he was a stockbroker, would know about the pregnancy if the cad hadn't given her a fake phone number the next morning; he doesn't find out until the two accidentally meet three months later.
By that point, Bobby has other problems: He lifted a cop's badge a while back and dumbly used it to get a free cab ride, igniting a scandal that has the cop (Michael Madsen) on the warpath; he's trying to pay off his dead dad's $500 thousand gambling debt with the watches and cell phones he steals for an edgy, karate-obsessed fence (Vincent Gallo); and his mom is sleeping with Joe Pantoliano.
Corrente is at a disadvantage here, with every interesting face in the cast stuck in a supporting role. Scenes between Facinelli and Alexander go nowhere, and are rarely more believable than the forced coincidence of their three-months-later reunion.
The movie's crime-flick elements are hardly more credible than the pregnancy plot (we're meant to believe, for instance, that Madsen's couldn't-care-less flatfoot was on track to become Chief of Police), but they have a grindhouse quality that makes Loosies almost fun in flashes. But flashes are all they are -- pleasures even more fleeting than an off-brand smoke bummed from strangers in an alley.
Though Bobby (Facinelli), a consummate pickpocket, was forced into crime by his late father's $500,000 debt to loan shark Jax (Vincent Gallo), he nevertheless thrives on his quick wits and agile fingers, which give him a sense of superiority to his wealthy prey. But Bobby's carefree days soon turn problematic.
His latest cocky escapade -- stealing a cop's badge and using it to commandeer a free cab ride -- has made headlines and enraged the cop in question (Michael Madsen), who hunts him down in earnest.
Click here to Loosies download
His home is invaded, first by a mouse, who drives his mother (Marianne Leone) into fruit-throwing hysterics, and next by a strange man in red underpants (Joe Pantoliano), who turns out to be his mother's sleep-over fiance. Then the cops descend.
The real game-changer, though, comes when a one-night stand with a clearly nice girl, Lucy (Jaimie Alexander), leaves her pregnant, forcing Bobby to make decisions and take responsibility. Corrente attempts to show his characters drifting aimlessly around the city until they make a love connection, but these exterior scenes, with their quick cutting and slick lensing, wind up looking a tad too much like an ad for Gotham Cool, especially as they stand in calculated contrast to the long takes and strung-out emotional confrontations that dominate elsewhere.
The film's occasional flashes of thesp authenticity are largely supplied by Pantoliano, who makes his most hackneyed lines sound completely natural and oddly endearing.
Gallo's entertainingly sinister screwball, though convincing, never relates to anything or anyone around him; even an ever-present kid (Eric Phillips), who hangs out playing computer games in Jax's apartment, functions more as a bit of local color than a character.
Alexander's perf, despite the actress' obvious potential, cannot survive her character's brusque mood swings between anger and tenderness. Most significantly, Facinelli's transformation from feckless charmer to committed caretaker seems contrived, leaving the film feeling like a series of stitched-together scenes with little internal drive.
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