Episode 40: Snatch
Justin:
Out of the forty movies we’ve now discussed on this show, I think it’s safe to say that SNATCH is the shallowest of them all. This isn’t a put-down, per se, but more of an acknowledgement that Guy Ritchie and his band of delinquents are out for one thing and one thing only: fun. For every introspective sci-fi masterpiece like 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY or historical drama about slavery in the American South like 12 YEARS A SLAVE, Hollywood absolutely has to put out stuff like this. Criminals doing criminal things. Idiots doing idiot things. And dogs doing dog things. And in this case, it all works.
SNATCH is a polished, slick 100 minutes that breezes by faster than a speech by Brad Pitt’s gypsy boxer, Mickey. The plot is incredibly complicated in that crime-film sort of way, where you end up watching the events transpire through an entertainment lens, sure, but also through a detective lens, working to figure out who is going to end up on top when the dust settles. It’s been done better (see: Soderbergh’s OCEAN’S 11) and it’s been done worse, but it’s at least done well here and again, it’s an enjoyable time. And that’s really where it ends for me, to be honest. I liked it. It’s good. That’s it.
So unlike some of the eternal classics that we’ve discussed on this show, I can’t imagine I’ll be sitting my future children or grandchildren down one day for a required viewing of SNATCH. But it’s certainly a nice palate cleanser amongst the deep thematic waters that we often wade in and in the end, I’m just really relieved that the dog makes it out okay, squeaky toy and all.
