This entertaining crime drama uses a very familiar type of plot to showcase the amusing eccentricities of a bunch of criminals who come together to carry out a job for a ruthless mobster. The action is often violent and the body count is high but there are also moments of humour and romance that add enormously to the enjoyment of the piece.
Like "2 Days In The Valley" (1996), "Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead" followed in the wake of Quentin Tarantino's great successes of the early 1990s and the influences of "Pulp Fiction" and more obviously, "Reservoir Dogs" are apparent throughout.
Jimmy "The Saint" Tosnia (Andy Garcia) is a retired gangster who's in a difficult position because his legitimate business called "Afterlife Advice" is losing money. To make matters worse, his debt to some loan sharks is actually owned by his old crime boss who's known as "The Man With A Plan" (Christopher Walken) and he wants Jimmy to carry out "an action" for him. Jimmy's in no position to refuse and so rounds up four members of his old gang.
"The Man With A Plan" has a son who, after having been dumped by his girlfriend, turned to child molesting. Jimmy's old boss wants the girlfriend's new fiancé to be scared off in the hope that she'll then decide to reconcile with her previous beau and steer him back into acting normally again!!! Jimmy then arranges for two of his gang members to pose as police officers in a stunt that goes terribly wrong and ends up with both the fiancé and the girlfriend being killed.
Predictably, "The Man With A Plan" doesn't take this news well and hires a contract killer called Mr Shhh (Steve Buscemi) to kill the four gang members in the most painful ways possible and then orders Jimmy to leave Denver within 48 hours or he'll suffer the same fate. Jimmy decides not to leave immediately because he wants to see Dagney (Gabrielle Anwar), the beautiful girl he's fallen in love with, his gang members, who he tries to help in any way that he can and Lucinda (Fairuza Balk), a hooker who values his friendship. Unfortunately, by delaying his departure from Denver for so long, Jimmy even starts to put his own life in danger.
It's the quirky characters in this movie that provide most of its entertainment and dark humour. Jimmy is very suave, charming and extremely loyal to his friends and his tendency to put others before himself and to do what's noble is fitting for someone who's nicknamed "The Saint". Gang member Pieces (Christopher Lloyd) is a projectionist in a cinema that only shows porn movies and suffers from a disease which causes parts of his body to drop off unexpectedly. Franchise (William Forsythe) runs a trailer park and has a wife who's desperate for him not to get involved with the gang again and Critical Bill (Treat Williams) is a highly volatile, psychotic ex-con who works in a morgue and tries to control his violent urges by beating up corpses which he strings up to use as punch bags. Easy Wind (Bill Nunn) is the forth member of the gang who works in the pest control business and hates Critical Bill because of something bad that went on in prison.
Although it's undeniably derivative and contains some dubious dialogue (e.g. "girls who glide need guys who make them thump"), "Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead" does have an offbeat appeal, numerous funny moments and some great acting by its wonderful cast. Andy Garcia, Treat Williams and Chrispoher Walken are particularly good and there's also a great soundtrack and an appearance by Buddy Guy to enjoy.
Like "2 Days In The Valley" (1996), "Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead" followed in the wake of Quentin Tarantino's great successes of the early 1990s and the influences of "Pulp Fiction" and more obviously, "Reservoir Dogs" are apparent throughout.
Jimmy "The Saint" Tosnia (Andy Garcia) is a retired gangster who's in a difficult position because his legitimate business called "Afterlife Advice" is losing money. To make matters worse, his debt to some loan sharks is actually owned by his old crime boss who's known as "The Man With A Plan" (Christopher Walken) and he wants Jimmy to carry out "an action" for him. Jimmy's in no position to refuse and so rounds up four members of his old gang.
"The Man With A Plan" has a son who, after having been dumped by his girlfriend, turned to child molesting. Jimmy's old boss wants the girlfriend's new fiancé to be scared off in the hope that she'll then decide to reconcile with her previous beau and steer him back into acting normally again!!! Jimmy then arranges for two of his gang members to pose as police officers in a stunt that goes terribly wrong and ends up with both the fiancé and the girlfriend being killed.
Predictably, "The Man With A Plan" doesn't take this news well and hires a contract killer called Mr Shhh (Steve Buscemi) to kill the four gang members in the most painful ways possible and then orders Jimmy to leave Denver within 48 hours or he'll suffer the same fate. Jimmy decides not to leave immediately because he wants to see Dagney (Gabrielle Anwar), the beautiful girl he's fallen in love with, his gang members, who he tries to help in any way that he can and Lucinda (Fairuza Balk), a hooker who values his friendship. Unfortunately, by delaying his departure from Denver for so long, Jimmy even starts to put his own life in danger.
It's the quirky characters in this movie that provide most of its entertainment and dark humour. Jimmy is very suave, charming and extremely loyal to his friends and his tendency to put others before himself and to do what's noble is fitting for someone who's nicknamed "The Saint". Gang member Pieces (Christopher Lloyd) is a projectionist in a cinema that only shows porn movies and suffers from a disease which causes parts of his body to drop off unexpectedly. Franchise (William Forsythe) runs a trailer park and has a wife who's desperate for him not to get involved with the gang again and Critical Bill (Treat Williams) is a highly volatile, psychotic ex-con who works in a morgue and tries to control his violent urges by beating up corpses which he strings up to use as punch bags. Easy Wind (Bill Nunn) is the forth member of the gang who works in the pest control business and hates Critical Bill because of something bad that went on in prison.
Although it's undeniably derivative and contains some dubious dialogue (e.g. "girls who glide need guys who make them thump"), "Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead" does have an offbeat appeal, numerous funny moments and some great acting by its wonderful cast. Andy Garcia, Treat Williams and Chrispoher Walken are particularly good and there's also a great soundtrack and an appearance by Buddy Guy to enjoy.