Despite the considerable amount of great actors involved, this film managed to remain off my radar until literally minutes before viewing it. So any expectations I had were formed in the few minutes I spent overlooking the film, that said, "Pawn Shop Chronicles", in the end wasn't quite as good as it could have been, but it certainly had it's moments and managed to stay entertaining. Director Wayne Kramer has more than proved his mettle in the past, writing and directing two film's which I have fond memories of "The Cooler" (2003) a film in which William H. Macy was brilliant in and "Running Scared" (2006), a film starring Paul Walker who rejoins Kramer in this film's first segment. With a solid director and such a long list of talented actors I felt this was going to be a sure thing. Then came the dialog from writer Adam Minarovich, weighing the film down like an anchor.
The film concentrates on a southern pawn shop run by Alton (Vincent D'Onofrio) in an unusual town full of unusual folks. It presents three stories, all of which are uniquely tied to the shop and framed out while Alton and his buddy Johnson (Chi McBride) hang out, business as usual. These stories range from speed-freaks, to kidnapping and murder. Each tale revolves around one item bought or sold at the shop and how they end up relating to one another in the span of one day. The first installment stars Kevin Rankin, Lukas Haas, Norman Reedus and Paul Walker. It's another day in the life of a few meth heads and there is no shortage of dark humor & hi-jinx, Walker as "Raw Dog" is a sight worth seeing as he's in full on "tweaker" mode, quite a reversal from the norm. The second installment shifts gears from the quirky to the horrific, starring Matt Dillon and Elijah Wood. Dillon plays "Richard" a man who finds a ring in a pawn shop belonging to his missing wife who's been gone for six years. He literally drops everything and goes on the hunt for her, ready to dish out some sickly sweet revenge to anyone connected to the ring. If you're a horror fan you'll appreciate this segment the most, I know I did. The third sequence, taking into account the insane direction that the previous story took, it was a bit bland with a most bizarre ending. It was all about Brendan Fraser, a burned out Elvis impersonator who faces an important decision while performing at the county fair right around the same time that a parade of nude women, all with zombie like expressions begin filing onto the scene.
It's all a bizarre & disjointed film which was trying to be something like a hillbilly version of Pulp Fiction, but failing to be anything but a mish-mash of the most strange and peculiar elements. Things do all relate to one another eventually and it's an entertaining film with some redeemable qualities, but the script is far from brilliant. I can't think of any memorable lines given or anything that made me laugh out loud. While succeeding to be amusing it didn't go much further than that. I believe Wayne Kramer made the most out of what he had to work with, but with a script lacking in any serious wit or style there is only so much that one could do. This film will likely be forgotten before it's even discovered.
