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Viewers familiar with John Cassavetes' directing style will see his influence in this film, but Elaine May wrote and directed it. It is an engaging, highly unusual drama about two childhood pals mixed up with the mob. Don't expect Martin Scorsese or Francis Coppola glitz here---this movie is different. There is a real, uncinematic edge to it. It almost plays like a documentary, or a "reality movie." And the actors--Falk and Cassevetes were good friends and frequently worked together--allow for unique male-bonding (and a dissection of the male sex) that rarely occurs in modern film (another characteristic of a Cassavetes-directed film). Women are basically throwaway characters in many of his films, and that is the case here. This movie will either be an endurance test for audiences, or a fascinating experience. It was the latter for me.

What a disappointing black comedy this is. I think Billy Bob can be hilarious when he wants to be (check out his performance in "Bandits"), and thought the movie would be a stab at the ridiculous commercialization of Christmas. It crosses the line from black comedy to downright offensive a number of times, especially in its treatment of Christian symbols. With all of the uproar about The Passion of the Christ, no one seemed to mind that Miramax put this movie out, which trashes Christian ideals and symbols during their most sacred of times. Now I'm not a religious fanatic by any means, and love a good black comedy (I was one of the few, it seems, who really liked Death to Smoochy). But this movie didn't make me crack a smile once. Billy Bob's foul mood and constant vulgarity got old after five minutes. One of the worst movies I've seen in years.

I'm probably one of the few who thought this movie was hilarious. I mean, how can you NOT laugh at Will Ferrell and Lee Evans breaking into a song about how they're going to beat up the title character ("the bastard's going to pay!") The movie gets funnier and stranger in the second hour, when anything resembling a plot was apparently tossed out the window. Leon Phelps is a unique Saturday Night Live creation. If you don't expect much (as I did going in), you may just find yourself in stitches. Granted, this is not the stuff of classic comedy, but it's not the "one star" comedy that most critics called it.