Perfectly adorable

Beautiful, moving film.

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES is a slick little crime thriller with a decent cast and a lacklustre script. There's no faulting the performances or the work of actor Jackie Earle Haley in his directorial debut, but the problem with this one is the lack of likable characters and the clichéd nature of the plot. A group of four twentysomething buddies lose their investment and get into hot water when it transpires that one of them borrowed money from mafia man John Travolta (at his oiliest). There are edgy performances from established performers like Dan Stevens (check out that hair!) and Michael Pitt, but the script mistakes profanity for originality and as such the narrative remains resolutely average.

Once again, everyone is comparing a low budget flick to mega Hollywood films. While this film does feature John Travolta, it's obvious that they just used his name to get the audience's interest. But don't let that dissuade you from watching it. All the acting from the lesser-known actors is still very good, and in fact, might actually even be better. Travolta plays your typical mob boss, but the guys involved are anything but your mob underlings. It's a formula I've seen before, but the twist later on in the film gives it a unique twist that made it worthwhile. Even if stuff didn't make sense during the film, it came together at the end. It's nothing that will rock your world, but it was enjoyable enough for an hour and a half.

Criminal Activities has a good cast for talent in the main roles with Michael Pitt, Dan Stevens, Christopher Abbott, Rob Brown, Edi Gathegi and John Travolta. The premise of the film is four old friends come up with a financial investment plan to make a small fortune but they need $200K in seed money which one of the four old friends arranges to get a loan for. When their financial investment plan quickly goes south their anonymous financial backer comes forward and demands his $200K back immediately plus another $200K in interest, or else their heads will be handed to them, literally. The loan arranger is connected to the mob underworld and he tells his four patsies that he will wipe the slate clean of the $400K loan if they agree to kidnap another hood and hold him for just 24 hours. So the kidnapping plan is set in motion with the four amateurs and although it hits a few snags they eventually get the kidnapping completed and they keep the mob hostage tied up for their loan shark waiting to get the green light to let him go.What follows is about 60 minutes of continuous blather by all cast members including a whole lot of four letter words that rhyme with the word "PUCK". Most sensible film goers would at some point get up and ask for a refund but since I purchased the Blu Ray I chose to bear with the directors master(less)piece and although I was becoming very irritated with the endless blather of totally useless dialogue by the six main characters which I assumed was necessary to fill an otherwise empty void to completing a 94 minute movie I hung in there and I was rewarded with a better than average film end.I don't want to spoil any film goers surprise ending or personal experience with Criminal Activities but to summarize the film in three acts I would rate: Act One (1) with a "C" rating, Act Two (2) with a "D" rating, and the final act, Act Three (3) with a "B+" plus rating. So if you can hang in there through a pretty boring middle half of the film with a lot of useless four letter word dialogue you may be pleasantly surprised with an above average decent film ending.

A Low-Budget Indie by First Time Director Haley. His Film will Probably have You saying this isn't the first time for this Type of Thing. Obviously, a Homage or a Copycat, depending on Your Feeling about the Film.It's mostly Dialog Driven with Splatters of Violence for Punctuation. Sound Familiar? Some of the Scenes are irritating Shouting Matches and Hardly Witty. Others are more Clever and make for some Interesting Exchanges.An Amateur Kidnapping Scheme is at the Center of this Exercise in Neo-Noir. Haley plays a Glib and Aloof Mob Enforcer and John Travolta is in one of His Slumming Roles with Bad Makeup, but Manages to be an Anchor of Sorts for the Young Turks and Their Concern with High School Camaraderie and Current Girlfriend Fidelity.It's a Scattershot Story with some Intrigue and Interest, not a lot of it Works but some Things Do and it is Worth a Watch for B-Movie Fans, and Tarantino Rip-Off Spotters. The Ending may be more Complex than Needed, but it Feels like the Filmmakers think that the Overly Twisted Wrap Up makes this Something Special. Maybe, but Maybe too Clever for this Small Film to Pull Off.It's a Multitude of Things that were Withheld from the Audience and You will either be Saying A-Ha, or Give Me a Break. Depending if You can Fully Understand it all or Feel that it isn't Worth Understanding after all.