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Joey Gazelle (Paul Walker) is an obedient mob lackey instructed to dispose of a snub-nose revolver that took out a handful of dirty cops. However, after stashing it at home, the gun is recovered by young Oleg (Cameron Bright), who uses it on his meth-making, abusive stepfather next door. Several pressing forces wish to have the matter resolved within eighteen hours, leaving Joey responsible for finding the kid – and the gun – before time runs out.

The film could easily be dismissed as yet another Tarantino rip-off. Why? Just because there’s gratuitous violence, rampant vulgarity, and a hearty helping of nudity, all set in a world of crime. It may be a broad stroke, but perhaps that is exactly what writer/director Wayne Kramer (The Cooler) is getting at all along. He helms the picture with a hyperstylized look, doling out plenty of laughably bad dialogue sprinkled with touches of Tourette’s. The product is so frantic and overdone, one can’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, Kramer has something else up his sleeve. As it turns out, he has everything up there, kitchen sink included. Kramer seems to take pleasure in making the town of Grimley, NJ as seedy as possible. Every kind of criminal resides there, and Oleg meets each and every one of them, courtesy of the gun, which serves as the movie’s MacGuffin more than anything else.

The film’s narrative structure works to its benefit, with the first hour consisting of little more than set-up and Gazelle dashing around in an effort to contain the situation. Frenzied as it may be, nothing much is actually taking place, and one is left hoping for a little less conversation, a little more action please. Just when the audience is about to fear that Scared might be all flash and no bang, Kramer goes for broke, throwing all the elements together in a madcap dash towards the finish, and the viewer cannot help but surrender to the overwhelming pandemonium that results. As it turns out, the single best-executed sequence is ultimately the most disposable. Eventually, Oleg runs into the most terrifyingly nice characters this side of Todd Solondz’ Palindromes, a family of four whose parents are especially eager to look after the young boy back at their place. Although quite compelling, that portion adds nothing to the plot, but at that point, who could care either way?

Walker contributes the best performance of his career (since Eight Below, at the very least), carrying the chaos with a relentless effort to make the most of the material, no matter how outlandish. Bright does an adequate job as the innocent Oleg, and Vera Farmiga leaves a strong impression as Mrs. Gazelle. As a cop particularly concerned about the outcome of the night’s events, Chazz Palminteri does his regular villainous song-and-dance, but such work suits the film quite well in the end.

The more thought one gives it, the sooner one catches on that Kramer’s intent all along was to skewer the traditional action conventions by including every last one, even down to the ‘big twist,’ and showing them for just how ridiculous they really are. Such a perspective makes the work by the entire cast, Walker in particular, that much more admirable in their shameless dedication towards their roles. Then again, for a parody, another wink or nudge might not have hurt matters, but the idea is still there nonetheless. 'Running Scared' may not be a great movie, but don’t dare mistake it for a stupid one.

link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=14057&reviewer=409
originally posted: 02/24/06 17:21:52
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