Film with an attitude, was good about 20 years ago when it was called The Color of Money.
Callahan shows off his acting, writing, directing talents in a personal film called Poolhall Junkies, but the real question here is who is this Mars Callahan kid? I’ll guess that his parents might be hippies, but one thing is for sure his skill with the pool cue is certainly better than moviemaking related talents.
Wearing his ‘Hustler’ t-shirt and doing his best impersonation of Ben Affleck, Johnny (Callahan-That Thing You Do!) is a smart-mouthed, how’d you like them apples, f-you type of character whose ego and attitude is matched by a cast of other testosterone fuelled guys whom are embarked in this game called: intimidation. Johnny has got a great network of useless friends who are ready to hand him their entire life-savings and a girlfriend who mysteriously stands behind him to combat his evil former manager (Chazz Palminteri-Hurlyburly) who shafted him 15 years ago. The facts of life have hit him hard, heck he can’t even hit a nail properly and our pool prodigy literally finds himself the 8-ball.
Bad guys and good guys and dudes who really should keep there savings away from the green table battle it out with some big face-off of words and attitudes in this Swingers meets The Karate Kid meets Reservoir Dogs diner table discussions (heck even Rod Steiger is in this film!). By far Christopher Walken’s (Catch Me If You Can) character steals the show; every word of dialogue that he speaks seems to bring a sparkle to this pathetic story with subplots that make you wince and from the mounted up moments of juvenile tricks found from Maxim magazine.
Not surprisingly, the lack of story makes it so that a lot of time is spent on the pool table and there are certainly some nice tricks shots, but where was the visual imagination that could have come with this package?, I think some fast motion and slow motion shots in with a Terry Gilliam P.O.V could have paid off in the long run, where is the interest in having 101 angles of a pool table? Consequently, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how the story ends-did the character really have to wear the t-shirt on that day? With a complete lack of originality and the film’s harsh dialogue and unattractive cast of whinny bitchy men, this film falls short from a perfect game. Don’t get ‘hustled’ into seeing this unworthy affair, this film is a complete scratch.