A crime caper that gaily spoofs such antecedents as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and nods its head more than a few times to the work of
Quentin Tarantino, Very Mean Men opens in a bar, where a bartender (
Matthew Modine) finds himself serving drinks to a tough-looking guy (
Martin Landau) he pegs as a cheap drinker. In order to keep the miniscule tips coming, the bartender makes up a story about warring mob families in the San Fernando Valley. In one corner there are the Minettis, who are led by Gino (
Ben Gazzara), a mobster who's mellowed with age. Gino wants to make amends when Big Paddy Mulroney (
Charles Durning) complains that Gino's clan is invading his side of the Valley. Gino's temperamental son Paulie (
Scott Baio, sporting peroxided hair and a goatee to match) gives Mulroney money, only to then stiff Mulroney's waitress daughter on a tip after having lunch at the family's diner. Soon ethnic insults are flying like bullets, and everyone is out for revenge. ~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide