A richly photographed ensemble piece about several characters attempts of obtain a bag of money. Nothing deep, just a quirky and sometimes funny film that uses coincidences similar to the 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrell's' motif. It never quite works as a hilarious caper film, and neither does the viewer enable any feeling for the main protagonist in the Drifter played by Jeremy Davies.
'29 Palms' does have it's moments though particular during the scenes with Michael Rappaport as the nasty cop, who has some of the funniest lines. Joe Polito does a decent job, but his character is overly annoying and fairly stupid. Bill Pullman is a welcome edition, but again, short-lived and not really given an essential character to play. Chris O'Donnell makes an interesting, if not decent, hit-man character. None of the characters are really developed except Jeremy Davies one, and Rachel Leigh Cook's character. '29 Palms' would have got a far better score if it was more entertaining and less reliant on coincidences as plot-devices which has been done before. I did like some of the flashback moments and interactions but the main reasoning to also partially dislike this film is because it should have had a better ending. The ending was just plain weak, and the only redeeming factor from it was the very last line, but the entire sequence itself was stupid and nonsensical. I could hardly recommend this film, as it became tiresome and irritating, though it certainly had it's moments to give it an average score. **1/2 out of *****!
