Flypaper

 3/4

Starring: Patrick Dempsey, Ashley Judd, Tim Blake Nelson, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Matt Ryan, Mekhi Phifer, John Ventimiglia, Octavia Spencer, Jeffrey Tambor

Not Rated (probable R for Violence and Pervasive Language including Some Sexual References)

Jon Lucas and Scott Moore have been behind some of the funniest comedies of the past 15 years.  "The Hangover," "Bad Moms," "A Bad Moms Christmas."  Those are three great comedies filled with laugh out loud belly laughs.  They also wrote a mystery/comedy called "Flypaper" which flew under the radar for some reason.  Probably because it is so different than the other films.  Don't get me wrong, "Flypaper" is funny, but the humor is more likely to provoke grins as opposed to belly laughs.  And the humor is more clever than raunchy.

Tripp (Dempsesy) walks into a bank asking for his hundred dollar bill to be broken up in coins.  He keeps changing his mind about how he wants this done until he realizes something: "You're being robbed," he says nonchalantly.  Actually, the bank is being robbed by two groups of people.  A pair of rednecks named Peanut Butter (Nelson) and Jelly (Vince) are armed with explosives and intent on stealing from the ATMs while a trio of high tech thieves, professionals Darrien (Phifer) and Weinstein (Ventimiglia) and accompanied by the psychotic Gates (Ryan) have their sights on the vault.  Needless to say that this is a surprise to both teams and the hapless hostages.  Things get even more screwy when someone is picking off everyone in the bank one by one.

"Flypaper" delights in tweaking and twisting elements of heist movies and mysteries for comic effect (Agatha Christie would be proud of this movie).  It isn't a spoof of movies like "Inside Man," but it frequently pokes fun at those movies and the absurdity of such a situation.  The film's targets are varied. It takes potshots at the economy and income inequality while upending the conventions of the genre.  For example, the hero of such a movie is usually a good looking hunk, and Patrick Dempsey is such a man.  Only here he is an obsessive neurotic who is open about his mental health issues.  And his relationship with his obligatory love interest doesn't turn out exactly as expected.

The cast, which is mostly comprised of character actors, is rock solid.  Patrick Dempsey has fun playing a hero who has a few screws loose upstairs, but remembers to create an actual character.  I soon forgot it was him; the showboating evident in the trailer isn't present when his scenes are put into context.  Ashley Judd (where has she been?) is as good as ever.  Able support is provided by the always reliable Tim Blake Nelson, Pruitt Taylor Vince and others.  Special mention has to go to Matt Ryan, whose performance as an anger-prone, homicidal lunatic is a dead on impression of Colin Farrell.  In fact, the resemblance is so uncanny that an undiscriminating viewer might believe it is Farrell himself playing the role.

"Flypaper" is a movie for those who appreciate movies that are a bit different.  It's offbeat and quirky, but still highly entertaining.  It takes a bit to get going and there aren't as many belly laughs as one might hope, but it's a lot of fun.  If there's a flaw is that the plot doesn't always make a lot of sense.  That's okay though.  This is a movie where the ride is most important, and I enjoyed myself enough to have had a good time.

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