ridiculous rating

Good idea lost in the noise

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Okay, it's not the worst. It has some bad stuff in it, mainly over the story setting. Apparently it is completely easy for a magician to steal a handful of diamonds and also to escape from prison several years later by using his tricks. Much of the acting was great, and some of the dialogs were good too. I personally enjoyed Michael Conolly's monologue at the morgue, though it proved pointless to the plot. I hated Portia de Rossi's character. There's no explanation of why she's such a bitch, and she's annoying most of the part. RuPaul was totally unnecessary. He's just some weird transvestite neighbor who has the hot's for Finch. And, of course, he has to act all macho in the end, I don't know why. Tim Allen was good, interesting character. My favorite scene with him was in the subway. It was a little disturbing to see him curse like that, but it was funny. The mobsters were very good, but they had too much development for what the central story was. Good music, although it was too dramatic for chase scenes, average script, great actors, not to good of an ending. It's not very good, but it isn't really that bad. It's sort of in between. Either way, it's watchable.

*** Spoiler alert *** The majority of the story is being revealed to Tim Allen's character by Christian Slater's character, by way of flashbacks ... There is a crucial scene where we/Tim are surprised to discover that there is a crooked cop, who makes a phone call (alone, and from his office at HQ), disclosing Cletis Tout's current whereabouts to the mob ... Great, but how or when did Christian Slater realize the cop was crooked? Later in the movie, we see that Slater has no such information ... This would/could only work if later in the film we were to discover how Slater came about this piece of information ...Worth watching, though ...

Watching a movie like "Who is Cletis Tout" is rather like drinking diet cola. It tastes good and doesn't really hurt you. The acting and fun of it make up for the plot holes you could drive a truck through. Some of the reviewers have compared it to "The Usual Suspects", but that's sort of like comparing a pencil drawing to a Picasso. "Suspects" was an incredibly tight, well written mind twister. This is just a fun way to spend a couple of hours. The really fun part of it is to see how many of Allen's quotes you can pin down. For an old time film buff like myself it was a fun challenge. Too sum it up, if you want a pleasant evening, rent this film, sit down and "fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night."(Betty Davis)

As a big Christian Slater fan, I'm thinking to myself : He needs a great movie to make a good comeback. What's the problem ? He HAS a recent good movie ! Who is Cletis Tout is a decent film. It went straight to video in my country and it isn't even a success in the videostores. I can't really see why...because it's a ripoff ? So what... I must admit, the characters ( especially the 2 dumb assassins ) are very Tarantino like. And so are the dialogues. So, this Chris Ver Wiel guy found some inspiration by Tarantino and also David Mammet. I don't care. The story is good, very nice twists, the right amount of humor and quotes and ...last but not least...a great tribute to an endless number of classic films. What else could you wish for ? The story is about Trevor Finch. !!!!!!!!SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!! Together with a diamond thief he escapes from prison, takes over the identity of a journalist who is wanted by the mob ( for having the evidence of a brutal killing ) , he meets the daughter of his mate who he has escaped with, they go after the diamonds he buried 20 years ago, they communicate through pigeons, and all this he tells to a hired killer who is obsessed by old movies. This provides us with some great moments. And by that it's proven again...knowing a lot about movies can save your life...Christian Slater gives a flawless performance. Although it never came close to the wonderful True Romance days, he deserved a lot more credit for this role. And the supporting roles are magnificent as well. Another reason why I can't get this picture wasn't more successful. We've got Richard Dreyfuss, who is excellent as always. Tim Allen as the hired assassin was the biggest surprise. I liked his sitcom, but his filmroles couldn't satisfy me so far ( the Santa Claus ??? ) In this film he was great ! Obsessed by cinema, that's always and advantage. And we've got Billy Connolly, who is only THE best comedian from Great-Britain. His role has the best quote-material by the way. Overall, a very decent film. Made with the largest amount of respect possible. Not a masterpiece but certainly 90 min of pure fun. Recommended !! My humble opinion on Who is Cletis Tout = 7/10