Fantastic!

Awesome Movie

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENICE is a quirky comedy thriller set in California. It's another straight to video effort for ageing action man Bruce Willis, playing up to his wise guy persona by tackling the role of a tired and caffeine-addicted private detective who goes off the deep end when the dog he's been dogsitting is kidnapped. This is a low budget and quite bizarre little outing at times, variously copying the likes of JOHN WICK and PULP FICTION at times. The cast is populated by a tapestry of oddball characters, some of whom work, some of whom don't. There's a lot of sex and a lot of shouting and a few witty scenes. Tonally it's all over the place, too often wallowing in toilet and crude humour, as well as repetition (the amount of times Willis gets knocked out without suffering any after effects). Willis is okay, just okay, with his most memorable scene being the nude skateboarding moment which is achieved via some digital trickery. The ever-excellent John Goodman gives the best performance to my mind, although it's nice to see Jason Momoa playing something other than a stock tough guy. Thomas Middleditch is also quite amusing, which I wasn't expecting at all so kudos to him.

Nice story. Action. There is narration to carry the story along. It is a movie that would have played well in theaters. I liked the acting of Bruce Willis and John Goodman: just two regular street-smart guys trying to make it through life by any means necessary. There is a dog, cross-dressers, slutty women, drugs, guns, grenades, fancy cars, graffiti, gangs. It's an action-comedy movie.

Like many, I've been a Bruce Willis fan since "Die Hard." And I agree that some of his recent movies have not been as satisfying as I'd like. So that may have led me to some lower expectations with "Once Upon a Time in Venice." But, it's Bruce Willis (and John Goodman, and Jason Momoa, and Thomas Middleditch, and the list goes on), so what the heck.I found myself actually laughing at the dialog and acting (in a good way). The irreverent Bruce Willis attitude was here in full, and EVERYONE else was that way, too, which is one of the things that made this movie really fun. Yes, the action sequences were kind of light, but they fit it perfectly with the tone of the movie.If you want a fun Bruce Willis movie, this one is it. Loved it!

Disgraced former LAPD Steve Ford (Bruce Willis) is the only licensed private detective on Venice Beach. The narrator John (Thomas Middleditch) is his eager assistant. Surf shop owner Dave (John Goodman) is his best friend. It's a series of odd cases. Lou the Jew (Adam Goldberg) is desperate to catch the vandal painting lewd graffiti on his building. Drug dealer Spider (Jason Momoa) kidnaps Steve's dog from his sister-in-law Katey (Famke Janssen)'s house and forces him to do a job.Bruce Willis used to be fun during Moonlighting and Die Hard. Somewhere along the line, he lost all the joy in his eyes. Him skateboarding in the streets naked should be hilarious but the humor is flat. It's very tiring when wackiness don't illicit joy. It's a long line of jokes that don't seem to work. It has to be Willis. Goodman is his second-in-command and he looks gaunt. Hopefully, he's just on a diet but the jolly isn't there. In better days, some of these gags would have been funny.