Paul Schrader directs Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe and Christopher Matthew Cook in this black crime comedy where three unhinged ex-cons move out of their low-level comfort zone and try you pull off a big score with fatal results.

Lurches between gonzo violence to solid character study to exploitation pulp to amateur scratch work to pure visual art. Essentially if you like Cage and Dafoe and you expect nothing of it, there’s nasty pleasures hidden among the randomness. Imagine a crime film told in the style of Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and you’ve got the milieu. Ends with loose ends all over the place, don’t expect plot resolution. Still, I’d watch this utter carnage again. Based on a Eddie Bunker book, with Schrader himself acting well in a key role.

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