Movie Review: Lucky Number Slevin

I was sitting in my apartment on a Saturday afternoon flipping through the channels on the tube trying to find something to entertain me. I just so happen to stumble upon Lucky Number Slevin starring Josh Hartnett, Lucy Lie, Stanley Tucci, Bruce Willis, and Morgan Freeman. I have seen this movie before a couple of years ago and enjoyed it, but I must admit, I never really understood how everything worked out. Specifically, I didn't understand what the Kansas City shuffle was. However, upon this second viewing, I'm pretty sure I understand the movie and somehow like it even more than I did the first time.

The movie opens with disheveled man sitting in a bus terminal who is approached by a man calling himself "Smith" (later to be known as "Goodkat", played by Willis). Smith tells the story of Max, a man who borrowed quite a bit of money and bet it on a fixed horse race while his son sat in the parking lot waiting for him. The mobsters who financed the fixed race discovered others were betting on it, and decided to set an example by murdering Max, his wife, and his son. As Smith finishes telling the story, he pulls a Kansas City shuffle and breaks the neck of the man in the terminal and loads him in the back of a truck.

Back in New York City, Slevin Kelevra (Hartnett) is at his friend Nick's apartment. There he meets the nosey and ever lovable neighbor Lindsey (Liu). Moments after Lindsey leaving, Slevin is kidnapped by two henchmen who take him to meet The Boss (Freeman), a powerful crime lord he demands Slevin repay his friend Nick's 96,000 dollar debt. Slevin promptly admits he can't repay that amount of money and as an alternative the Boss offers Slevin the option to murder his rival's son, Yitzchok The Fairy.

Upon returning to his friend Nick's apartment, Slevin is promptly kidnapped by more henchman, this time by the Boss's rival, Jewish crime lord Schlomo The Rabbi. The Rabbi also demands Slevin repay Nick's 33,000 dollar debt to him within 48 hours.

As the story unfolds, we find out that Slevin and Goodkat have set up all of these chance meetings to get to the Boss and the Rabbi. As it turns out, Slevin was the child of Max, the unlucky gambler in the beginning of the movie. As it turns out, Max's bookie included Max's bet in a fixed race that was only meant for the Boss and the Rabbi. And, as we learned in the beginning of the movie, Max, his wife, and his son were killed and were to be made an example of. As it turns out, Goodkat had been hired to kill Max's son, who we now know is Slevin, because no one else would take the job. However, upon meeting Slevin, Goodkat couldn't kill him.

Slevin and Goodkat set up everything and everyone in order for Slevin to take revenge on the people who stole everything he loved in his life. He pulled, the ultimate Kansas City shuffle.

The plot of Lucky Number Slevin is quite complicated and probably requires the average movie watch to view the movie more than once, but I have to say, it is well worth it. The movie is clever and fast paced; not once did I find myself looking at the clock wondering when they were going to wrap things up.

One of the most endearing aspects of the movie is really the chemistry between Hartnett and Liu. I will not hide it, I really can't stand Hartnett's acting and typically I don't like anything he is in. However, in this movie, he comes off quite charming at times. In my opinion, I think this can be attributed to Liu's strong personality and charm. Every scene she is in, Liu steals the spotlight.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. As the movie finished up playing on the tv, I found myself turning to my boyfriend and saying, "We should go to Target and buy this movie."