Overall Rating Awesome: 0% Worth A Look: 16% Average: 16% Pretty Bad: 56% Total Crap: 12% 2 reviews, 13 user ratings

Latest Reviews Star Trek Into Darkness by Jay Seaver Star Trek Into Darkness by Rob Gonsalves Black Rock by Jay Seaver Rolling Thunder by Brett Gallman Great Gatsby, The (2013) by Daniel Kelly Star Trek Into Darkness by Brett Gallman Stories We Tell by Peter Sobczynski Star Trek Into Darkness by Peter Sobczynski Twenty Feet From Stardom by Jay Seaver In a World... by Jay Seaver subscribe to this feed

Latest Features Films I Neglected To Review: Bad Night At Black Rock or The Iceman Killeth. This Week in Capsule Reviews - 14/05/13 Criticwatch - The Not-So-Great Quote Whores of Warner Bros. Summer 2013 at the Movies. Smells of....Cheap Cleaning Product and Melted Cheese... DVD Reviews For 5/7: "Be Sure I'm In The Casket Before You Bring Any Lilies." Interview: Dennis Quaid and Ramin Bahrani on "At Any Price" DVD Reviews For 4/24: "It Happens Sometimes. People Just Explode." Catching Up On Festival Reviews Criticwatch - Headed Into Oblivion This Week in Capsule Reviews - 16/04/2013 subscribe to this feed

Albino Alligator

Buy posters from this movie

by Chris Parry

"Wasted talent, wasted space, wasted time."

Kevin Spacey's directorial debut has all the hallmarks of someone trying to prove themselves in the field. Long lingering shots, dramatic pauses, off-kilter framing and conflict aplenty. Spacey being the biggest of bigwigs, he also got a top line array of acting talent (well, big names, if not talented ones). What Albino Alligator is lacking is story, real style, scenery, and genuine interest.

A trio of crooks take refuge in a bar when a getaway goes wrong and they take the local barfly's hostage. Cue disagreement between the crooks as to what to do next, some hostages with secrets of their own, a street full of cops and a TV news reporter looking for a big story.

Albino Alligator isn't a good film. It drove me to a crossword during the climax. I'm sure Spacey made it on the cheap and I'm sure he dragged in some favors to get it going, but it's not going to get him to the Mel Gibson stage of being able to do anything he damn chooses. If anything it's a little embarasssing.

Having said all that, it isn't consistently awful, it's just not consistently anything. It's bland as watery gravy and at times as clear as same. The characters are muddled and lifeless. The situation is overdone. The humor restricted to one joke of quality.

Saturday night video fare? Nah. Bored at 3am and need something to send you to sleep? Bingo.

And if Matt Dillon tries to do drama again - someone show him that Meatballs flick he was in. Thank you good night.

link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=270&reviewer=1
originally posted: 01/24/99 16:27:41

printer-friendly format

User Comments

1/15/04 Betty White Solid performances & direction, but gets tiredsome quickly. 3 stars

12/30/03 sarah matt dillon is supposed to do 'good stuff'?? 3 stars

4/25/03 mr. Pink Quite watchable thriller and debut. Dunaway and Dillon give very good perfs. 4 stars

9/05/02 Chancey Thunderpants Where the fuck was the alligator???????? 2 stars

9/30/99 the Grinch Mmm..ok, maybe catch it on Cinemax:Vanguard Cinema...a bit bland and dragged alot 3 stars

7/26/99 stuart buxton Shot tight and filmed in sequence. That tension builds means it grows, succeeds & resonates 4 stars

1/23/99 C Dub Disappointing, especially with that cast 2 stars

11/02/98 MR HOLLYWOOD !! Dunaway/Mortenson are the only charac. that kept me watching,kinda slow though......... 3 stars

9/13/98 Paul Leone Very underrated - I loved the cast. 4 stars

8/24/98 The Capital City Goofball Yeesh. Am I the only one that really liked this film? 4 stars

8/23/98 Mister Whoopee Wow. Harsh words all round. Sucked balls. 1 stars

8/19/98 f*r*o*s*t*y Fuck you, Matt Dillon! You're supposed to do GOOD stuff. Sheesh. 1 stars

8/17/98 Miss Stress bad bad horrible horrible horrible, and there was no alligator which pissed me off 1 stars

IF YOU'VE SEEN THIS FILM, RATE IT!
Note: Duplicate, 'planted,' or other obviously improper comments
will be deleted at our discretion. So don't bother posting 'em. Thanks!

Your Name:

Your Comments:

Your Location: (state/province/country)

Your Rating:

USA 24-Jan-1997 (R) UK N/A Australia 02-Jul-1997 (MA)

Directed by Kevin Spacey Written by Christian Forte Cast Matt Dillon Faye Dunaway William Fichtner Viggo Mortenson Skeet Ulrich

Advertisement

Overall Rating

Latest Reviews

Latest Features

User Comments