a suave , cool , collected , rich , uptight bad guy = cliche .
a clumsy criminal oaf to add to the laughs = cliche .
a bad guy who owns a wild animal = cliche .
a crooked , chauvinistic law enforcer type = cliche .
at an intense moment , our main character tries to get away , but the car has trouble starting = cliche .
complaining about cliches = cliche .
ok , ok .
so we always hear about cliches .
but if there was ever to be a prime example , the real mccoy is it !
not one uttered word , not one frame of film , not one character in this whole movie isn’t a cut and paste example of everything we’ve ever seen .
they might as well use this as a training film : ” how to make a bank robbery film in the 90’s ” .
karen mccoy ( kim basinger ) is a bank robber who just got out on parole after a six-year stay at the state prison .
she wants to make things right and go straight , especially with the fact that she has a six-year old son out there who doesn’t even know she’s alive .
aware of mccoy’s bank robbing expertise , sniveling bad guy jack schmidt ( terence stamp ) uses the same six-year old to coerce mccoy into returning to her past .
he wants mccoy to pull off an elaborate heist of 18+ million dollars at the same bank she got caught trying to rob six years earlier , which , by the way , is somehow due to schmidt .
and if she refuses ?
who knows what he’ll do to the kid .
( cue sinister laughter )
this movie is so pathetically pitiful that it’s hard to know where to begin .
the aforementioned cliches are brutally abundant .
i can’t stress enough how every single element , whether it be a character , the dialogue , a plot ” twist ” , etc . , is so damn generic that you’ll wonder if * anyone * is working behind the scenes , let alone in front of the camera .
basinger is absolutely vacant .
and where do they get off trying to make us emotionally attached to her ?
here’s someone that spent their time robbing banks , and now as she heads onto the street , we’re supposed to feel sorry for her .
as she confronts her son , who doesn’t even know who she is , are we supposed to break into tears ? ?
especially when neither basinger nor zach english , who plays the kid , has any depth or emotional-radiance whatsoever .
i suppose i should mention val kilmer .
yeah , that’s right – he’s in it !
quite sadly too , seeing as how i can discuss everything about the movie and never mention his name .
and he got second billing !
to be fair , i will admit that kilmer had potential in his role as the bumbling criminal wannabe j . t .
barker .
unfortunately the script doesn’t allow much room for improvement , and when his character is used like bookends ( he never shows up in the middle of the film ! ) ,
we have no time to appreciate what he might have brought to this project .
the real mccoy just can’t keep it’s head above water , and soon , * very * soon , sinks into a cliched mess of movie .
the actors are like dummies being moved about by an unenthusiastic puppeteer , and the dialogue , particularly schmidt’s trite dialogue , falls like the niagra .
this is definitely one to avoid , folks .
the real mccoy is anything but !