2 Days in the Valley (1996)

"2 Days in the Valley" is a great movie for anyone. If you like interesting story lines accompanied by amazing performances by very talented actors/actresses then you should watch 2 Days in the Valley. This movie packs a lot of star power with names such as Charlize Theron, Teri Hatcher, Eric Stoltz, Danny Aiello, Jeff Bridges and James Spader. The story revolves around the events surrounding different characters, all unrelated. The movie has many sub-plots and develops them all independently until they all merge together and we get the big picture. Throughout the movie, we learn important details that are all leading up to a great finale. The director threw in a lot of little interesting quirks, such as the murderous assassin smirking as he watches a cop sight down the barrel of a watergun, or a spiteful old man who we came to hate earlier slinking out of a Japanese pleasure house in the dead of night. The movie is very well written and very interesting, and if there is any problem whatsoever, it would have to be that at times the dialogue becomes a bit laborous and unrealistic. (Sometimes, it appears that the characters are explaining what's going on to the audience, rather than conversing with the other characters.) Nevertheless, this is a trite point, and distracts none at all from the movie's enjoyment.The cast, especially James Spader and Charlize Theron are top notch, but a crucial change made to "lighten" the movie tosses much of the plot out the window, robs one central character of his key motivation, and greatly hinders the film. Stoltz and Spader give the Best performances, both funny and real. Especially Spader, he virtually Carries the film. Charlize Theron, in one of her first films, is very, very attention-grabbing, through her looks and her abilities. Daniels and Hatcher appear too infrequently to be memorable. Aiello and Headly give equally likable performances that become the moral centre of the film. However, what makes this work is some clever dialogue and some satirical plot ideas, but mainly it is a tour de force of acting by a talented and highly professional cast. This is one of those movies in which every actor is a threat to steal the show at any time one way or the other. In a way it's a parade of cameos cleverly stitched together and then nicely edited.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

I was answering a question about this film, which got me thinking about it, and I decided to write a review about it. In my opinion, this film is a crime classic, and I cannot believe "2 Days In The Valley" (TDINV) is not better known. If you look at the cast you will understand why. It starts with Lee Woods (James Spader), a super cool robotic hit man, and his partner Helga Svelgen (Charlize Theron), who is an ice cold evil blonde. They are hired to kill the husband of Becky Foxx (Teri Hatcher), so she can be on the US Olympic Team. They are promised $30,000 which is in the house to do so. Assisting them is hit man Dosmo Pizzo (Danny Aiello), who turns against them, when they set him up to be the fall guy. Spoilers ahead: Helga, gets killed by Becky after a nasty cat fight (She had it coming to her). Meanwhile, Dosmo ends up meeting Susan (Glenn Headley), who is constantly abused by her snobbish boss Allen Hopper (Greg Cruttwell), and treated worse than his dog. In my favorite scene, Dosmo discovers Susan is Italian (Something in six years, Greg never learned about her because he took no interest in her as a human being), and he cooks a meal (As he is holding them hostage), and has her sit at the table with him, while he eats on the floor with his dog. Other key characters are washed screenwriter Teddy Peppers (Paul Mazursky) who wanted to commit suicide after he found someone to take care of his dog, Nurse Audrey (Marsha Mason), and Detectives Strayer (Jeff Daniels) and Taylor (Eric Stolz).Spoilers: In the end, Lee ends up shooting Taylor, and Dosmo tries to rescue him, but cannot defeat Lee, and both will be killed, except Teddy shoots Lee dead. That action, enables him to get his confidence back and be able to start over with Audrey (Marsha Mason). One other point, about Peppers, you see in the final scene with Audrey, that he is very different than before, and will not only get a reward from the City for saving Taylor, but since he is in screenwriter, he can tell a story (leaving Dosmo & Susan out of course), that could get him a huge advance. Think about it: A Hollywood writer saves a cop, Warner Bros, Paramount, Universal and all the rest would bid on that. I would figure, that should be worth six figures to him. Dosmo and Susan end up with the $30,000 and will go to New York to open a pizza shop (Taylor lets him have it, because he was willing to take a bullet for him (Essentially the hit man turns good guy because of his conscious)). A key theme of the film is second chances for people who were essentially washed up: Dosmo, Susan, Teddy, Taylor (He would have been dead except for Dosmo & Teddy), Becky (Who gets away with it), and last, but not least, Strayer who is abusive cop, who almost shoots a black guy (Due to his temper) and wants to commit suicide, but because of thinking about his daughter does not (He gets a letter telling him to turn in his Badge, for psychological reasons, but although unhappy, at least he tolerates it, and has a chance to get his act cleaned up (Based on the theme of the film, he does). Basically a crime classic 10/10 stars.

"Two Days in the Valley" is an example of what has become known as "hyperlink cinema", the sort of film which involves several parallel, overlapping story lines. Films of this sort have become popular in the last few years, "Crash", "Babel" and Syriana" all being well-known examples. The introductory storyline involves two hit men, Lee Woods and Dosmo Pizzo, who kill a man named Roy Foxx while he lies in bed with his ex-wife, Becky, a former skiing champion. Woods then betrays Pizzo, shooting him and blowing up their car in order to set him up as the fall guy. Woods's plan misfires, however, and Pizzo survives, albeit injured. Gradually, more and more people become involved in the saga, starting with Woods's glamorous Norwegian girlfriend Helga and Allan Hopper, an art dealer, in whose house Pizzo seeks shelter. Others include Hopper's assistant Susan, his sister Audrey, a nurse, the two police officers to whom Becky reports the killing, and Teddy Peppers, a once-successful film producer now down on his luck and contemplating suicide.Teri Hatcher's performance as Becky earned her a nomination for Golden Raspberry Award for "Worst Supporting Actress". Whether that was fair or not is difficult to say, as I have never seen any other of the other nominated performances for that year, but this film did strengthen my general impression that Hatcher is an actress more at home on television than in the cinema. There were, however, a number of better acting contributions, notably from Danny Aiello as Pizzo, surprisingly sympathetic for a man whose occupation is killing people, Greg Cruttwell as the irascible Hopper, James Spader as the ruthless Woods, whose failure to finish off Pizzo shows that "ruthless" and "efficient" are not necessarily synonyms, and Jeff Daniels and Eric Stoltz as the two cops, Alvin Strayer and Wes Taylor. The two, who are not homicide detectives but vice cops who just happen to be in the area, have sharply contrasting characters. Alvin, the older of the two, is obsessed with driving all prostitutes out of the area, especially Asian immigrants, of whom he has a particular dislike. The young rookie Wes, by contrast, is more concerned with getting out of the vice squad and into homicide, and although Alvin berates him for his lack of knowledge of elementary police procedures it is Wes who comes up with the vital insight into the crime, namely that Becky might know more than she is telling. Charlize Theron, in her first major screen role, looks absolutely stunning as Helga.Despite its ostensibly serious subject-matter, the film never really feels like a traditional crime thriller. Although it revolves around a murder, it has more of the feel of a black comedy, not so much in the sense that it is played for laughs but rather in the sense that is played tongue in cheek. With its quirky, eccentric characters it betrays the influence of the films of Quentin Tarantino such as "Pulp Fiction". Black comedy can be something of an acquired taste, and is a difficult genre to get right, but director John Herzfeld does enough to keep the viewer's interest alive. "Two Days in the Valley" is not a great film, but it is refreshingly different enough from most run-of-the-mill Hollywood productions to make it worth watching. 6/10

Superb, quirky, comedy-crime film with a super cast. Sharply written with an edge of eccentric energy. A unique movie experience that has some very likable and loathsome misfits that feel as real as they do surreal.Some hilarious bits and gritty stuff going on here and may not appeal to all tastes, but lovers of cutting edge, experimental, although slick, productions will find some very creative turns and an artsy attempt at a combination of touching and heartfelt characters brought together by a psychopathic villain with a very sexy partner.Made just after the mega-hit Pulp Fiction, it inevitably invites comparisons. But this is not a rip- off or an homage, It stands on its own as a fresh film frolic that is as entertaining as it is original.