Synopsis
Barry Sonnenfeld directs this kissing cousin of his own 1995 hit
Get Shorty, a comic caper adapted by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone from the novel by newspaper humorist Dave Barry. When two New Jersey hitmen (
Dennis Farina and Jack Kehler) show up in Miami to whack crooked businessman Arthur Herk (
Stanley Tucci), they happen to creep into his backyard at the same time as Matt (
Ben Foster), a high school kid with his own assassination plans. Only, Matt plans to use nothing heavier than a squirt gun on Jenny (
Zooey Deschanel), Arthur's daughter, as part of a school-wide game of "killer." When the plans collide, mayhem ensues, and Matt's struggling ex-columnist dad (
Tim Allen, loosely modeled on Barry), Arthur's bored wife (
Rene Russo), and two confused police officers (
Janeane Garofalo and
Patrick Warburton) are also called to the scene. Shift to the next day and there's more craziness to follow. Two dimwitted petty criminals (
Tom Sizemore and
Johnny Knoxville) choose the exact moment Arthur is transacting a nuclear arms deal to hold up the dive bar where they're regulars, which is actually a front for the Russian mob. Soon the whole motley cast -- including an agreeable drifter (
Jason Lee), a buxom maid (Sofia Vergara), and a pair of ruthless FBI agents (Heavy D and
Omar Epps) -- are caught up in a hostage scenario in which the weapon accidentally gets brought aboard a hijacked plan. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide