paul mcguigan's LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN (2006)

this is another movie i wouldn't have ever given a second thought but for offhand recommendations from friends, and once again i was fairly pleasantly surprised. there are plenty of flaws, the most critical being the general lack of inspiration; both McGuigan and screenwriter Jason Smilovic seem to be perfectly satisfied with "good enough" in their respective capacities, so what could obviously have been a superior contemporary noir emerges instead as an indifferently slick twist picture, snappy but lazy in its scripting and handsome but bland in its aesthetics. but it's engaging nonetheless, and it's fun to imagine what could have been if the film weren't so determinedly middle-of-the-road.