One Day as a Lion

This felt like a cross between a high-school drama class production, and a vanity project for writer and lead actor Scott Caan to have his shirt unbuttoned or off wearing only underwear as much as possible. The writing, and especially the dialogue, was borderline infantile, and I'd say at least 80% of it was nonsense filler. There were only a few hits at humor, but it was mostly misses. The story did have some heart to it, but it was down-played and overshadowed by a lot of nonsense. Even Caan naming his character Jackie Powers was borderline cringe. Grillo's and Simmons' talents were underutilized and they both deserve to be in better films. Although they were the draw to this film, Marianne Rendon as Lola shined the most, and stole every scene. She was the only reason I even finished the film, because her character and performance were outstanding, and the reason I'm being generous with my 6/10. Swab's directing was decent given the flaccid script he had to work with, but with a more experienced screenwriter, this film could've been great.

I guess the other negative reviewers , were seeking some golden globe type of movie , based off the cast members in this production . This movie never tries to be that , even the trailers inform the audience that it's made FOR FUN . It doesn't imply that it's to be taken serious , it's just FOR FUN . So if you are looking for a FUN time , escapism type of movie , that's relaxing and FOR FUN , then this my friend is for you . 7 stars from me . I thoroughly enjoined this movie . I can only guess that those viewers who expected some major piece of art , based the cast , have never heard of an actor simply shooting a movie for a friend , that's not going to win themselves nor the flim an Academy Award. They do them FOR FUN .

Jackie Powers (Scott Caan) is pushed into a hit on Walter Boggs (J. K. Simmons). He misses badly and kills the cook instead. He takes waitress Lola Brisky (Marianne Rendón) who is the only witness. His son is stuck in jail.

Scott Caan is trying his hand at writing. It's a bit of hit-and-miss. This one is trying to be a sly crime drama. The studio declares this to be an homage to Tarantino and the Coen brothers. That may indeed be the target, but it falls short. The dialogue and the flow need more work. It's a little rough. I do like these actors, even Frank Grillo, but they do struggle with the script.

The headline names made me watch this one, and though it started out with a reasonably interesting premise, It became clear that the poor script and weak plot were not going to do anything remotely passable for anything entertaining.

It doesn't really go anywhere, and nothing much is done with the off-beat concept that's brandished in the beginning.

The story is very weak and I'm only surprised more wasn't done to wrest if from the vestiges of what can barely be considered mediocrity. By this I mean, there is nothing interesting about what happens nor does the story attempt to engage in anything which could be considered remotely interesting.

The script is "Meh" Here we have people engaged in what I often call 'Hollywood talk' where they speak to each other in sentences and style that we only ever see in movies, but doesn't amount to a hill of beans or bare any resemblance to verbal exchanges in real life.

The unfortunate consequences of the poor story and script mean there is nothing substantial to latch on to here, and despite the direction and performances being first rate (for the most part) they can't instil any excitement into what unfolds on screen.

This is one of those movies I would categorize as - A bunch of stuff happens then the movie ends - but nothing therein makes it an enjoyable entertainment piece.

It's not terrible, but its more something I'd have on in the background while training in my home gym or cooking in the kitchen. Definitely not something to sit down on the sofa and indulge in with a tub of popcorn and good company.

I think 3/10 is a fair score, maybe 4/10 at a push.

A bunch of good actors doing a great job and getting nowhere. Feels wasteful and not utilising the potential at all - everyone is at their right place, everyone is doing more than decent job portraying their characters, but for what reason? There's no explanation to that - there's no any substantial background to the characters, they appear out of nowhere and disappear back to the obscurity without leaving a mark, and in the end there's no connection between the story lines, no reason to the actions, no bottom line and no overarching idea, just a bunch of human-shaped sketches on screen. Could have been something, but it wasn't to be...