Highly Overrated But Still Good

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

***SPOILERS***It's almost at the very end of "Trouble Bound" that you finally realize what that whole confusing mess of a movie is really all about. It's then when the dead body that everyone in the movie is out to get, except its two stars Michael Medsen & Patricia Arquette as Harry Talbolt & Kit Califano, suddenly comes alive and starts talking! Up until that major revelation, or resurrection, in the film we have no idea what exactly is going on and for that matter the less you know the better you feel about it. It's like a doctor not telling you just how bad your condition is in fear that if he did it would end up killing you!Harry had just gotten out of prison and is set up by his friends, who were responsible for him going to jail in the first place, to drive a Lincoln Continental-across the Arizona Nevada border-that he won, together with $5,000.00, in a card game that was rigged in his favor. Harry's brainless criminal friends didn't realize that the corpse Gordo, Vincent Guastaferro, that they hid in the trunk had the keys to the safe where he hid the money that he owed them! This sets off a number of equally brainless events where Harry ends up getting stuck with Mafia Princess Kit Califano who in return is out to knock off, by any means possible, Mafia Don Santino played by Seymour-in the less you see him the more the better- Cassel.Kit has been out to knock off Santino ever since he, as a Mafia hit-man, knocked off her old man who was set up by non-other then her sweet little old Grandma and now Mafia Boss Grandma Martucci, Florance Stanley. What's even worse is that Grandma Martucci is in the process of forming an alliance with Santino that her granddaughter Kit is in jeopardy, by blowing Santino away, of destroying!Totally unbelievable story in that if the hoods out to get Harry & Kit who have the key to the kingdom, or Gordo's safe-box-had any brains in their skulls, which in fact they didn't, all they had to do was get a few sticks of dynamite and blow the safe wide open! Not make complete jerks of themselves by running all over the place and ending up either getting killed or put behind bars! As for Harry & Kit they did make a nice couple in their fights and then making up during the length of the movie with especially Harry, or actor Michael Medsen, at his most coolest and "I don't give a sh*t and screw everyone" anti-hero best. Which since then has turned out to be his, Medsen's, trademark making him practically a cult figure, like the late Robert Mitchum, among his many adoring fans.Still the person who stole the show has to be the dead corpse of Gordo who despite being dead had about the best lines in the entire film!

This is an OK road movie with OK performances and some good fun. The main reason to watch Trouble Bound is the cinematography. It is outstanding, especially the outside scenes left a lasting impression. The same year Janusz Kaminski did Schindler's List and from then on photographed all the Steven Spielberg movies. In noirish Trouble Bound this excellent cinematographer comes through as a kind of contemporary John Alton.Michael Madsen does what he does best: frown and look sheepish (ties in well with the part). Patricia Arquette is far more livelier than in the other movies I have seen her in. Billy Bob Thornton has a small, rather inconsequential part and not least there is a mobster dowager and a corpse that keeps turning up. At one point it is lifted high up by a fork lift, then the convertible of the main characters accidentally hits the fork lift, and the body drops right on the back seat, like a ripe plum. Good stunt.

It's true that the formula to this movie is more than a little overused these days, but it's acted well enough by Madsen and Arquette, and being less than an hour and a half in duration, it keeps you interested anyway. I found it a very easy to watch, albeit fairly predictable film that's inoffensive and, occasionally, great fun. Patricia Arquette looks gorgeous in "Trouble Bound" (I seem to have developed a thing for her after seeing "Human Nature"!) and the overall result is a slightly above average action comedy. 6.5/10

This is the kind of movie it's a joy to discover on some off cable channel on a deep dark wintry night. Pure contemporary film noir. Topnotch actors - Madsen (today's Mitchum in my book, Arquette - one of the best in all modes, Thornton - a genius). The plot moves right along, it's a classic road/mafia comic romance flick. The cinematography is amazing - I looked up the guy & he went on to do Jerry McGuire & 3 Spielberg flicks including Private Ryan. What more can I say? I've always loved great trash - Jim Thompson was My Man!