Played

This is definitely scraping the barrel. The filming is more than substandard. Don't get me wrong, I am not into real pretty Hollywood cinematography and special effects for the sake of a good storyline. However the storyline is awfully weak and seems like so many of the films that were to come after "Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels". Just this one fails and fails miserably. The inclusion of some relatively well known actors must have been a coup for the Director and the film investors, as I am sure that most people would have been suckered into thinking that it must have some credibility. In the words of Dillon (Val Kilmer): Someone should have "Taco'd" this movie before release.

Just saw Played at a London screening. Although convoluted at times the many twists and turns in the story climax to a rewarding pay off.

Stand out performances: Val Kilmer is superb in that zany Kilmer way. Gabriel Byrne is not featured enough in Played but when he appears on screen his intensity is gripping.

The lead role is played by Mick Rossi who does a fine job and creates a character that you have empathy for right off the bat, at times he reminded me of a young Al Pacino.

His low key performance works well in a world of pop up colourful characters. Played with it's powerhouse cast and it's street cool is something to watch out for.

As others have said, do not be mislead by the name cast. nearly all the major name actors have very little screen time.

It is the first major role for Mick Rossi (he also did the screenplay)

This film had a small budget & it shows.

The production values are nil.

The acting is only so-so.

The script is chock full of the F word & variations of same plus other choice vulgarisms.

I cant say I hated this film, Its just not good just mediocre.

Ratings ** (out of 4) 52 points (out of 100) IMDb 4 (out of 10_

If you like 87 minutes of British actors dropping f-bombs over and over this is the film for you. Otherwise it's a pretty boring, pointless crime drama.

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this movie, especially since reviews have stated that much of the script was improvised. The film seemed fairly tightly-scripted to me...perhaps this is a tribute to the cast or director.

I also expected to be put-off by the limited screen time of the major names in the movie. To the contrary, I found it refreshing to have good actors in such small, but crucial, roles. This is the only way to avoid making movies into star vehicles that sacrifice story and direction for the sake of glorifying one or more of the lead characters.

On the other hand, the plot left a bit to be desired. There are quite a few loose ends that never get tied up, including the massive loose end right before the final credits roll. There's a difference between being ambiguous and simply stopping the story in the middle of an arc. This is your basic 2.5-act movie.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie and the characters. There's virtually no character development, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. This is worth watching if you enjoy "small" stories about tragedy and get a kick out of a bunch of well-know actors suppressing their desire to be the center of attention.