Welcome to the Layman's Review, where we give you a simple overview and a rating of some of history's most famous films. We're here to entertain you with facts and trivia, and to help you decide if any of these films are worth your time and interest. For a full list of movies on review, check out my previous post 'The Very Sciency Science Behind Film Choices'.
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Film: The Usual Suspects
Director: Bryan Singer
Year: 1995
Running Time: 106 minutes
Big Names
Kevin Spacey - “Verbal” Kint
Gabriel Byrne - Dean Keaton
Chazz Palminteri - Dave Kujan
Pete Postlethwaite - Kobayashi
Dan Hedaya - Sergeant Jeff Rabin
Plot Summary
Five criminals - four veterans and one rookie (Spacey) - are brought into a lineup and questioned about a robbery in Queens. Claiming innocence, the five men agree to pull a revenge job together before “retiring” to Los Angeles. Once in L.A., however, they are approached by a man who claims to work for the mysterious Keyser Söze - a man of terrifying power and violence who feels he has been wronged by each of these “usual suspects”. Söze gives the men a task in return for forgiveness; this task lands Roger “Verbal” Kint back in police custody, where he is forced to recount the events of the past six weeks.
Top Quotes
“Keaton always said, ‘I don’t believe in God, but I’m afraid of him.’ Well, I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Söze.”
- Verbal Kint
“Old McDonald had a farm, e i e i o. And on that farm he shot some guys. Badda boom badda bing bang boom.”
- Michael McManus
“Really? I live in Queens. Did you put that together yourself, Einstein? What, do you got a team of monkeys working around the clock on this?”
- Todd Hockney
Fun Trivia
- Kevin Pollak resented Stephen Baldwin’s method acting approach to the character of Michael McManus, which led to an ongoing feud between the two men.
- In order to maintain a genuine level of secrecy and ego, director Bryan Singer convinced each of the five actors playing “the usual suspects” that his character was actually Keyser Söze. The truth was only revealed to them at the initial company screening.
- Writer Christopher McQuarrie worked at a law firm and a detective agency before writing the script for ‘The Usual Suspects’ and named all of his characters after people he had worked with.
- Many of the scenes and shots are unscripted or unintentional, including when Redfoot flicks his cigarette into McManus’ face, and Hockney’s reaction to Fenster’s unintelligible accent.
- Director Bryan Singer loves the movie ‘Jaws’, which was vetoed from our viewing list by yours truly.
Ratings
Jessica’s Rating: 3 Martini Glasses
My problem with this film is that the ending, which reveals the long-anticipated identity of Keyser Söze, isn’t rivaled by the rest of the movie. The entire plot hangs on the twist, which doesn’t seem epic enough to justify the first 105 minutes.
Jeni’s Rating: 3.5 Martini Glasses
It’s worth watching twice, because then you get to see some of the clever plot twists which you might have missed in an initial viewing. However, it is not a film I would watch over and over again.
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