FILM FRENZY

Kevin James, Keana Marie, Leo Easton Kelly, Christina Ricci, and Luis Guzmán in Guns Up (Photos: Millennium)

By Matt Brunson

GUNS UP
★★ (out of four)
DIRECTED BY Edward Drake
STARS Kevin James, Christina Ricci

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”

This line was uttered by Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone in 1990’s The Godfather Part III, but it easily could have been utilized in any crime flick in which someone married to the mob tried to break free and begin a new life. That lot would include 2013’s The Family, in which a former mob boss turned snitch (Robert De Niro) enters the Witness Relocation Program and attempts to begin again with his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) and kids by his side.

I was reminded of The Family when watching Guns Up, a similar tale in which Mom, Son, and Daughter are all heavily affected by Dad’s dalliances in the underworld. Cowritten and directed by Luc Besson (adapting Tonino Benacquista’s novel Malavita), that middling yarn had trouble meshing the unrelenting brutality of its criminal activities with the lighthearted nature of the familial interludes. That dilemma in also present in Guns Up, where the jokey bits don’t blend with the more serious aspects but instead neutralize them.

Edward Drake’s previous nine pictures as writer and/or director all starred Bruce Willis as he suffered from aphasia (“loss or impairment of the power to use or comprehend words usually resulting from brain damage (as from a stroke, head injury, or infection)”). With Willis now retired, the marquee name here is Kevin James — he plays Ray Hayes, an underpaid cop who realizes he can’t provide a decent life for his wife Alice (Christina Ricci) or their kids Siohbán (Keana Marie) and Henry (Leo Easton Kelly). He turns to Michael Temple (Melissa Leo), a matriarchal mob boss who offers Ray a job as a henchman, one that will not only pay well but also provide 401(k) and healthcare — “Dental included,” adds Michael’s loyal right-hand man Ignatius (Luis Guzmán). Ray resigns from the police force and takes the new job, mainly because he wants to earn enough money so that he and Alice can one day open their own diner.

Of course, Ray can’t be too brutal in his dealings as a thug or audience members won’t be able to sympathize — this is rectified by Michael noting that her subordinates must abide by some fuzzy code of conduct that presumably spares women, children, and stray puppies from any copious bloodletting. When Ray states that he will leave once he has enough dough for the diner, Michael reveals that the number one rule of the code is that anyone can walk away from the business at any time with no questions asked or repercussions taken. Michael must be the first criminal kingpin in movie history not to worry about snitches, informants or government witnesses — given her sweet, charitable, and trusting nature, it would have been more believable had she become a nun rather than The Godmother. At any rate, Ray finally saves enough money, but on the day he and Alice find their diner and the day before he plans to resign, Michael is offed and her operation taken over by Lonny Castigan (Timothy V. Murphy), a ruthless boss who has no intention of letting Ray leave the fold.

Guns Up mostly plays out in stale fashion, with some competently staged but ultimately unexciting shootouts, a gallery of one-dimensional villains, and the expected antics — simultaneously comical and gory — when Ray’s family members get drawn into the violence and must protect themselves and each other. As for twists, there’s a betrayal that ultimately isn’t one, with the reason behind the action coming across as patently absurd (plus, there are about a hundred different, unpredictable, and uncontrollable outcomes for the situation on hand, most of them not good).

James has the bulk and frame for a mob enforcer, but he lacks the gravitas — the Paul Blart: Mall Cop and The King of Queens star is far more convincing goofing around with family members than blasting away at bad guys. Guzmán is always a welcome presence in movies, and Ricci has a few good moments as a woman who ultimately gives as good as she gets. But with little to set it apart from other entries in the overstuffed crime genre, the perfunctory Guns Up ultimately runs out of ammo.