Chain of Fools (2000) User Reviews

Aptly named

[Doomdark-3 · 7/10 · 1 June 2001]

This is basically a "laugh at the losers" episode flick in the vein of "Short Cuts", without the pretension and with a healthy dose of Quentin Tarantino thrown in for good measure (sans the nastiness and macho violence.) Chain of Fools boasts the essential (for this type of movie) array of crooks and oddballs; from Jeff Goldblum's psychopathic rent-a-thief character to Elijah Wood's adolescent aspiring hitman.

The film is uneven, which is probably a result of the relative inexperience of the director(s). There are several scenes that just feel pointless, and the Bollingsworth character could have used a little polishing, but on the whole the movie is thoroughly enjoyable. Steve Zahn is great as the loser protagonist, Elijah Wood shines as the hitman wannabe, Jeff Goldblum turns in a solid performance and sexy Salma Hayek once again demonstrates she can do a lot more than just look pretty and dance with snakes.

Chain of Fools is no Pulp Fiction, but it has got an endearing quality all of its own. If Tarantino and the Coen brothers were to do a movie together I imagine you would get something a lot like this.

I give it 7/10, where Pulp Fiction is a 10/10 and The Big Lebowski is a 9/10.

Very black and pretty funny

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 7/10 · 5 May 2004]

This started off a little slow, but quickly accelerated to a very quick pace. It went so fast for the last two thirds of the movie that you really had to pay attention to get everything. The twists are great, and incredibly funny. The plot is pretty good, not brilliant but allows for some very funny twists, and some unbelievably funny, but fairly unlikely, very complicated, situations that will make you laugh for several minutes without stopping for a breath, provided that you like black humor. The actors all do pretty good jobs, even Elijah Wood, who I normally hate with a passion, pulled off an entertaining performance. There weren't really any of the actors I was heavily disappointed by. All of the characters were funny, in their own, twisted sort of way, most of them are either caricatures or stereotypes, but they work really well together. The humor was great, most of the time, though some of the jokes fell flat, but most of it was a treat for fans of black comedy(like me). The sparse number of action scenes there was, were really great. The movie has a very good fast pace throughout most of the movie, there was hardly any moment where I was bored. The movie has some scenes that take place on a non-linear timeline, especially in the beginning, but the moment these are over, the film finds a better pace. This is not to say that these scenes were bad, in fact I find them to be a great start to the film. Overall, the movie was quite good, but some of the humor seemed to be more there to shock than to amuse, some of it did seem over the top. It could have been better, had the humor been more balanced and had more of the characters been believable and likable. In the end, the movie has some great laughs, but that's about it. It's easily forgettable. I recommend this to pretty much any fan of black comedy. It's not the best, but it's a pretty good one. If you're not easily offended, and you like black humor, it's worth checking out. 7/10

Such a shame movies like that doesn't get the release they deserve

[joelcuerrier · 1 September 2003]

Ok, well, this wasn't a masterpiece or a greater work of art. But it sure was a very funny movie. A movie, which, given the right release, could have been a hit. It's a good script, a very hilarious one. The premise is nothing new. Just the story of a normal guy who, agains't his own will, get thrown into a bunch of impossible situations. I'll give this movie a 7. A perfect movie to watch with a bunch of friends. The only problem is finding it.

Nice comedy/crime with a lot of characters

[Enchorde · 7/10 · 24 September 2005]

Recap: Kresk, struggling barber, recently divorced by his wife stumbles upon a secret when a gangster comes into his barbershop. This gangster, Avnet, was involved in a high profile theft last night involving three ancient Chinese coins. He thinks Kresk must die, fortunately fro Kresk Avnet stumbles and get Kresk's scissor in his neck. Now Kresk has a body to take care of. Unfortunately for Kresk, Kresk is not the brightest boy in town. And worse, neither is his friend Andy, full time scout, who he enlists for help. But as time goes, and things get worse, more and more people get involved, but Kresk is determined that those coins will change his life. For the better, he hopes.

Comments: An unusual comedy/crime movie handling a lot of different subplots that runs at the sides of each others with a lot of intersections. What makes this unusual and imaginative is that what happens in a subplot we are not currently following has an impact how the story goes at the next intersection. At the same time we get the full coverage in time with a frequent use of flashbacks and jumps in the timeline. Still, it was never any problem to follow.

The movie has a really big cast, and a lot of the names on the list are known. Goldblum delivers a solid performance as usual, Zahn is a great choice for Kresk. The best impression however I think I got from Elijah Wood who portrays a teen hit-man with finesse. I think it is the best performance from him I have ever seen. The director team Traktor has done a great work in their movie debut and I hope I will see more work from them like this one.

7/10

Entertaining? Well...

[peiyu · 7/10 · 19 June 2003]

Ok, before I begin, I'd like to say that I'm a fan of Elijah Wood and the fact that he's in it made me bought this movie. And surprisingly, I enjoyed the movie and all its characters instead of just Elijah Wood's.

The entire movie is actually based on a somewhat simple plot but there are so many people involved in it, and with all the flashbacks you can actually see how they're related to one another, which cracked me up.

The movie is funny in its own simple ways. I wouldn't label it as 'slapstick' immediately because obviously there's a plot clinging on to it and the movie follows that plot.

There were loads of funny moments. When Andy, the Timberscout (David Cross) began insulting Miss Cocoa (Orlando Jones) and when Boilingsworth (Tom Wilkinson) tripped while walking from his car to meet Avnet (Jeff Goldblum).

For reasons not related to my liking for Elijah Wood (hey dudes, they simply ARE funny), I most liked the parts when hitman Mikey (Elijah Wood) repeated to Kresk (Steve Zahn) "I didn't mean to brag, but do you know about Senator Dove..." when in fact... (uh, you'll have to watch the movie to find out). the part when he cried was kind of out of the blue and the snotty man looked so strange then.

The show is entertaining, but the video is probably not attractive enough to be picked up by non-fans of the cast. 7 stars

Very good little B-grade character caper movie.

[BadWebDiver · 7/10 · 3 May 2005]

I was very impressed by this movie. It contained a totally awesome cast lineup, was genuinely funny - very remarkable on such a low budget. And it also moves fairly tightly and briskly, with none of the pretentiousness of most B-grade "arthouse" fare.

The cast ensemble was an absolute dream in fact. Stalwarts like Jeff Goldblum, Steve Zahn, David Cross, David Hyde Pierce - and that lady who now plays the wife in "Scrubs". They were excellent.

And Elijah Wood is totally awesome in this. I once said that he had totally lost his comic touch or interest after the NORTH fiasco. Well, I now have to completely eat my words. He showed a lot of the brilliant personality that he displayed as an all-time great child actor - especially as Huck Finn. This is the role that I would class as his definitive transition role from child protégé to credible adult actor. It contains most of his charm and personality that were the highlights of his early career, with the professional maturity of his later work.

And once again I am totally blown away by Tom Wilkinson. His was a great role for a jobbing British actor in Hollywood; and he handles it wonderfully. This would be the perfect foil to his dramatic antagonist in Mel Gibson's THE PATRIOT (see my review); and a great foretaste of his comic flair as Doctor Chasubile in THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST.

This movie really worked a lot better than I thought it would. I was expecting some dour, slow-paced cynical "modern" serio-comedy with garish visuals and poor pacing - like RUSHMORE, or ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, or ADAPTATION; i.e. **way** self-consciously smug, with far more drama than comedy. But instead I got a snappy, witty, intelligent little character comedy with enough imagination and pacing to really keep it rolling along. It lacks the real punch of a classic movie like THE STING, Jim Carrey's THE MASK, or even ZERO EFFECT; but on its own terms it is very watchable, and totally deserves a lot more success. I thoroughly recommend it to everyone. A movie that's definitely worth renting.

Tightly woven heist comedy

[sgmi-53579 · 6/10 · 23 January 2023]

It's all over the place, but the very talented cast chewing piles of scenery makes it enjoyable. Steve Zahn plays a clueless barber who steps into the world of high crime, by accident, and also happens to fall in love As if to make some point about how one wrong (or is it right?) move can forever influence our lives - or, how inter-connected we all may be, every piece - every character falls into line with every other character in the film, at least in some way. It's fun to watch the device unfold, but it maybe grows a little tiresome by the time we reach the third act. To say any more would take away from the fun. But, if you like the stars of the film (and there are many), and your comedy a little ironic and black, you will find this film enjoyable. Not to be taken seriously for a moment; to be enjoyed with hot, buttered popcorn. Fun, if not totally memorable.

well, it was a bit lame

[frodolives · 4/10 · 16 January 2004]

Ordered the dvd last week and after reading the comments on this site I was expecting a jolly good time with a sparkling comedy, but - errr - I thought it was a bit lame. Good actors and some interesting ideas for characters, but it (and the acting!) was hampered all too often by lame dialogue - were they all trying to imitate Bollingsworth or what? A bit more colloquialism might have helped. And better directing! I don't know the other work Traktor have done but if they want to make sparkly movie comedies they've still got some way to go. Or am I missing something?

I'm a huge fan of Elijah Wood's and very partial to anything he does, but can't in good conscience give this movie more than a 4 out of 10 (unless I'm really missing a point here???) - it was great to see him do some action stuff & do the gun thing - and the funniest bit in the movie was probably Mikey saying, through his sobs: "Don't worry, I'll do the hit" - but he, as well as some of the others (particularly Selma Hayek) seemed hampered by having to deliver far too many words in some situations, and not necessarily stuff that anyone would actually *say* either. Andy could have been a riot as well (he probably comes closest to being funny, next to Mikey and his craving to see "Cats") - but most of the rest of the characters were fairly clicheed, and do we really need TWO almost identical-looking bitchy women in Kresk's life? (Ex-wife and sister). The premise of everyone trying to be incredibly bad-ass and not succeeding at all could have been really funny, but it all fell down in the delivery. :-(

The "Fools" are good, only the "Chain" is broken

[Barky44 · 7/10 · 3 July 2005]

"Chain of Fools" is one of those zany ensemble-cast spoofs on crime films. The "Fools" include Selma Hayek as a Playboy-posing police sergeant; Steve Zahn as an incompetent barber; Jeff Goldblum as a generic stylish thug; Elijah Wood as the world's youngest hit man; David Cross as an overgrown Boy Scout (literally); Tom Wilkinson as a vengeful wealthy industrialist; Orlando Jones as a beefy transvestite; and Lara Flynn Boyle as a treacherous ex-wife.

Normally I love ensemble films, and this particular one had a great cast (well, Steve Zahn didn't particularly shine in this film, even though he has the most screen time). The problem with CoF is the parts aren't strung together that well. The plot is mediocre, the editing is haphazard and the story doesn't flow too well at moments.

But the characters do provide quite a few laughs themselves. So it's better than your average schlocky comedy.

7 out of 10.

Barky

Rather predicable and dull

[cardinal-15 · 2/10 · 20 February 2006]

With the caliber of actors in this movie I had expected more. While no Pulp Fiction a faster pace and tighter action would of made a tremendous difference to the movie. The ex-wife popping in and out to deliver her lines and disappear again failed to do more than register as exposition. The constant suicide references reminded me of the orphan comments in "The Pirate Movie" IE; "We are all orphans". It was a little far-fetched that three of the characters lost parents to suicide, two of them consider suicide and the screenplay was suicide. It was hard to connect with these characters as they seemed to be walking through the movie. There was the odd funny and well done scene like Kresk and Micky in the bathroom, but for the most part it didn't draw you into the story.

Unknown and underrated, but very amazing movie

[greppese · 9/10 · 29 October 2006]

I found this movie 4 years ago on Italian pay-TV, it was very less advertised and I've seen it only because that night there wasn't nothing apart it, and it was with famous actors like Steve Zahn and Salma Hayek. And when it started, I read the others actors of the cast! One name better than the previous: Jeff Goldblum, Elijah Wood, Orlando Jones, Tom Wilkinson, David Cross. This is a good point to start watching a unknown movie: discover a beautiful cast. Then, the movie, obviously. I love black comedy and generally all the movie with a lot of different characters which want the same thing(s), like Snatch, Big Trouble… And this one is absolutely the best. It's very funny, which is a very hard thing to find nowadays, few times banal, and it has a tremendous pace (in 1 hour and 35 minutes happens everything you can imagine). Moreover the plot begin almost at the end of the history, and then it's a flashback followed by another flashback, and so for all the actors, but, that is the best thing about this movie, it's never really hard to figure out and, although it is complex, it's easy to rebuild the history, which is globally believable. It's quite clean (not like the majority of black comedies), unfortunately it has a large number of dirty words (in the Italian version I've counted more of 70 of them), but they are proportionate at the characters. So, isn't a deep movie to think about something, it's the better way to relax yourself sometimes. Discover it, because isn't famous at all!

Traktor's first movie - man, what a good way to become immortal

[Gunner auf Sexgod · 8/10 · 4 March 2001]

The movie opens on March 9 in Sweden. The team behind the movie, Traktor, are Swedish and therefore the world premiere is in Sweden. The celebrity premiere, yes there are such in Sweden too, was tonight at 7PM, and Traktor was presenting the movie. Jeff Goldblum should have been at the gala, but had to be in NYC to shoot a new film. He said hello in a very special way, with a short recording just for the gala audience, where he was doing jokes, singing "drinking songs" and wishing he had some Swedish Herring.

Chain of Fools is Traktor's first movie. They have done tons of commercials, but never a movie. Chain of Fools is their first stab at the silver screen - and man, what a good way to become immortal.

Steve Zahn is down on his luck, well, a loser. He is doing nothing, just being a loser... but by accident he get into both this and that. The movie is smart and moves from one thing to another and back again. The way the story is described and played in the movie, is similar to "Pulp Fiction", "O'Brother", "Numbers" and "True Romance". It's a blend, but you will feel right at home if you enjoyed those flicks. A dark, whacky and sarcastic humor poors out of the film.

Bottom line, I highly recommend this movie if you are into the earlier mentioned - even though the concept doesn't feel as fresh any more.

Well written, well acted and well underrated

[carlymelissasmith · 9/10 · 26 February 2019]

Although the writing and acting of each one of these bumbling idiot characters is, dare I say, genius, Orlando Jones and Elijah Wood do a particularly bang-up job. Wonderful job casting ever single actor here as well.

Underrated, underrated, underrated - Possible SPOILERS!

[bir_ka · 8/10 · 30 January 2004]

Chain of fools is just funny and crazy! I've bought the dvd, cause i wasn't able to find anyone having or even knowing this little film. And i cannot understand this! This movie is sooo underrated!

The story is about Kresk, a real loser, played perfect and really funny by Steve Zahn, and what happens to him after he has heard about a real good plan to get a lot of money. His wife left him, he is very bad in his job as a barber, his friends are crazy, his sisters son hates him, and everything goes wrong for him, so he has nothing to loose! And on one very bad day, the story beginns...and goes on funny, strange and, ok, sometimes a little unrealistic.

The cast is brilliant. Steve Zahn looks so crazy, and plays his character very good. Salma Hayek, playing good too, is just hot in here. Orlando Jones as Drag-Queen - oh my god! And Elijah Wood in a not so typical role for him - a teenage killer - or should i say "wanna-be-killer"!

If you like crazy and funny films with great actors, you would like to see in their maybe funniest roles ever, go and rent this little film!

8/10

Excellent film, pretty weird!!

[chica_cherry_cola02 · 10/10 · 11 December 2004]

I watched this film the other day - it was on Sky movies and I decided to check it out. Basically Salma Hayek is a detective for a case about the ancient Chinese coins stolen from a museum, the 'Shiney New Enemies'. The bloke from Road Kill is the main guy - a suicidal hairdresser - and he plays the part so well. Elijah Wood plays a 'hard-boy' hit-man, but really he's just a big softie. The hairdresser comes across these coins after 'killing' the man who stole them, somewhat accidentally. His nephew Scottie swallows them and he wants to take Scottie to France to 'fence' the coins, which will be pooed out in 24 hours or so. It reminded me of a cross between All I Want (or Try 17 in the US) and... er... a crime movie. Very well worth watching!

The funniest comedy I've seen for years.

[km004a5534 · 10/10 · 1 May 2003]

The movie industry never ceases to amaze me. How can it be that such a gem as this can be hidden away for so long and only be shown in scattered parts of the globe? It is a travesty and a huge mistake on someone's part. I know for a fact that this movie would go down a storm in the U.K. Yet, three years after it was made, it has never been seen in a British cinema, never been released on video or DVD in Britain and has not yet been shown on TV either. I had to buy a video tape from Australia!

But, make no mistake, this movie is unique and an absolutely brilliant comedy. It is a chapter of accidents, in which nothing ever goes according to plan and the flashbacks, where events are constantly changing, are a hoot.

To me personally, the Orlando Jones, Miss Cocoa character was a bit pointless, but some would no doubt find him amusing. Otherwise, the characters were a treat and superbly played. I single out Steve Zahn who was excellent as the bungling barber, Kresk; Elijah Wood who made me ache with laughter as a "hitman", the new kid on the block; Jeff Goldblum as the wicked Avnet; Tom Wilkinson as the English scoundrel, Bollingsworth; and Salma Hayek who could arrest me anytime. But,oh, Devin Drewitz! Devin Drewitz, was terrific as the hyperactive, Scottie. He was never still for an instant. Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, but Dennis the Menace had nothing on this kid. Remember the name! The kid will go far.

Very good character film, funny

[Finbar-1 · 8/10 · 17 March 2003]

I was quite surprised by this movie, had not heard of it but did a lot of LOL. Some real characters in unreal situations. And that scoutmaster. These guys are real losers but you gotta like them. I also felt the use of flashbacks and jumping around in time was done quite well. A real sleeper worth a watch.

Inside joke

[gui-14 · 31 December 2007]

Robert Bollingsworth's dying words are "Where is the moose?" (or, possibly, "When will the moose come?"), which must be an inside joke for the Swedish audience from the two (Swedish) directors. Supposedly, the elderly Swedish king, Gustav V, (the present king's great grandfather) once fell asleep in church during a lengthy sermon. Suddenly, the king awoke, and believing he was on a moose hunt, he asked aloud "När kommer älgen?", which literally translates into "When does the moose come?". The phrase has been used e.g., by the Swedish comedians "Hasse & Tage", Hans Alfredsson and Tage Danielsson, in one of their stage productions, where Tage Danielsson played Gustav V.

i am a dedicated fan....

[reflector · 4 January 2002]

i am an ardent fan of traktor... or at least fan of certain elements in traktor and was sadly disappointed by the film. the storyline was not the ingenious silliness one expects from traktor's work. i'd love to make some specific comments, but i began nodding out after jeff goldblum was left in the ex's apartment. sorry, but i cannot recommend this one... not even to my little brother.

The Mirror of "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"

[xyonoyx · 15 April 2002]

Traktor try to make this film like "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" but it's so simple not complex, not funny, not excite Too many Stars, but useless if you love Elijah wood, don't see this movie

Meh...

[DaveNoodles · 9 January 2006]

Annoying characters, doing annoying stupid things, can be kinda hard to relate to, and they certainly where in this film. It's comedy classic to have stupid people doing stupid things, but if the creators also want the audience to be involved in the ups & downs of these characters they got to give us some kind of reason, any reason... they didn't here. Steve Zahn is likable and charmingly goofy, I guess they just hoped that would be enough...

I was fairly entertained anyway though, not because of the lazy faux-Tarantino time shifts, or the I-can't-really-be-bothered direction ("lowkey", if one wants to be charitable), but because most of the truckload of stars they had wheeled in has at least one or two amusing tricks they always can rely on if everything ells fails; I rarely laughed at the obvious "witty" lines or comedy set piece bits, but several times I snickered and giggled at some funny little look or tilt with the head.

The plot was just the usual losers & crooks doing stuff on account of some McGuffin; I thought those went out of style back when Two Days in the Valley was released, but it seems like I was wrong. Still, seeing Elijah Wood as a 17 year old hit-man who smashes chair on people's heads was at least something different, and Salam Hayek in her underwear is always nice, so despite the fact that I can't really claim this is a good movie per se, I would still recommend it for anyone looking for a very undemanding time killer.