Dead Broke

If you can enjoy a prolonged visit with low-life employees of a seedy collection agency, then you are likely to enjoy this film. The performances are all good, and some are truly memorable. Paul Sorvino says "youze" a lot and is completely believable as the gangsterish owner of the "Polite Persistence" collection agency. John Glover's not-quite-handsome and unshaven police detective is just grungy enough to fit right in with the "losers" he must interrogate. Kevin Dewey's performance as "Steve" reminds one of Jim Carrey at his most manic. And, above all, Patricia Scanlon as the "Doberman of Debt," Frankie, pretty much steals the movie with her vicious performance as every debtor's worst nightmare. Her telephone diatribes against her poor "customers" are truly hilarious. She even gets a topless outdoor sex scene, which is more likely to inspire fear rather than to titillate. This is awesome acting.

The main weakness of the movie is the plot. At one point Sam the detective remarks something like "We have eight motives here." Actually, we don't have any motives--because the police do not have a corpse and we do not know who the victim is. If we do not have a victim, we cannot formulate a plausible motive, nor can we surmise why the police would waste so much time delving into the private lives of the agency employees.

But in spite of the obvious plot weaknesses, this film has a real sense of style, and the characters are really fun to watch. I will be spinning this DVD repeatedly for the genuine pleasure of watching Patricia Scanlon's rabid performance.