Lucky Number Slevin, (known as The Wrong Man in Australia), is a 2006 crime mafia thriller film written by Jason Smilovic, directed by Paul McGuigan and starring Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley, Lucy Liu and Stanley Tucci. Set in New York City, the plot focuses on the paths of Slevin Kelevra (Hartnett), Lindsey (Liu), two feuding crime lords known as The Boss (Freeman) and The Rabbi (Kingsley), and a mysterious hitman known as Mr. Goodkat (Willis).
Plot
During the film's opening credits, two bookies are separately ambushed and murdered by their unseen killers, and, elsewhere, a young man is killed by a sniper. In a bus terminal, a young man is approached by Goodkat (Bruce Willis), who tells the story of Max and the Kansas City Shuffle: two decades earlier, Max bet money he would not have pay to the mob on a fixed horse race, only for the horse to die mid-race. To set an example to make sure nobody else would try to bet on a fixed race, the mob killed Max, his wife and young son Henry. Goodkat concludes that a "Kansas City Shuffle" is a misleading double bluff, and so tricks and kills the young man, before loading his body into a truck.
In New York City, Slevin Kelevra (Josh Hartnett) is staying in his friend Nick Fisher's apartment and, upon being visited by Nick's neighbor Lindsey (Lucy Liu), discusses Nick's disappearance and why his apartment was unlocked. Lindsey suggests that Nick may be missing and, after she leaves, Slevin is kidnapped by two henchmen, who take him to "The Boss" (Morgan Freeman). Mistaking Slevin for Nick, The Boss orders him to repay a large gambling debt or kill the son of his rival, "The Rabbi" (Ben Kingsley); The Boss believes The Rabbi is responsible for assassinating his son (seen in the intro), and wants The Rabbi's homosexual son, Yitzchok "The Fairy", to be killed in revenge. Slevin then returns to the apartment, but is kidnapped again by two Jewish henchmen working for The Rabbi. The Rabbi also mistakes Slevin for Nick, and also demands he repay a large gambling debt. Slevin returns to The Boss and agrees to kill The Fairy. Concurrently with Slevin visiting the mob bosses, it becomes apparent Goodkat is involved in both sides and is responsible for Nick's debts being called in, and he plans to kill Slevin after The Fairy dies (though his motivations remain unknown).
Slevin and Lindsey go out to dinner, where Slevin arranges a date with The Fairy. Slevin is approached by Detective Brikowski (Stanley Tucci), who is investigating The Boss and The Rabbi; the detective hassles him again later; Slevin reveals his full name. Slevin arrives at The Fairy's apartment and fatally shoots him, only for Goodkat to appear; rather than shoot Slevin, however, he finishes The Fairy, who pulls out a gun, revealing Slevin and Goodkat are affiliated. Slevin then brings the bus terminal victim's body, revealed to be Nick Fisher, into the apartment while Goodkat kills The Fairy's bodyguards. Together they blow up the apartment and the bodies, faking Slevin's death in the process. Goodkat and Slevin kidnap The Boss and The Rabbi, with both awakening restrained in The Boss's penthouse. Slevin appears and explains the overarching twist: Slevin is Henry, the son of the ill-fated Max, and the mobsters who killed Max were The Boss and The Rabbi. Goodkat is revealed as the assassin hired to kill young Henry, but after an attack of conscience took him in and raised him instead.
Twenty years later, Goodkat and Slevin killed The Boss' son and both mobsters' bookies, stealing the bookies' ledgers in the process; after finding Nick Fisher owed a great deal of money to both sides, they killed him and stole his identity. As gang warfare loomed, both mobsters went to Goodkat, who agreed to both kill and protect The Fairy on the condition they call in Nick's debts, granting Slevin and Goodkat unhindered access to the heavily guarded mobsters and Nick Fisher as an ally respectively. After revealing his plan, Slevin suffocates The Rabbi and The Boss by taping plastic bags over their heads, killing them the same way they killed his father. Since Lindsey earlier photographed Goodkat for Slevin, Goodkat shoots her to protect his identity. Finally, it is revealed that Detective Brikowski killed Slevin's mother when his own gambling debts were called in by the mobsters; Slevin kills Brikowski as the pseudonym "Slevin Kelevra" is explained: "Lucky Number Slevin" was the horse his father had bet on, and "Kelevra" is Hebrew for "bad dog," mirroring Goodkat's name.
Sometime later at the bus terminal, Slevin is met by Lindsey, and it is revealed that Slevin, aware of Goodkat's intentions, explained his true identity to her and helped fake her death. Goodkat appears, aware of the trickery; since Goodkat spared Slevin as a boy, he sympathizes and agrees to let her live. The film closes with a flashback to Goodkat sparing Henry, before "Kansas City Shuffle" by Bennie Moten (Performed by J. Ralph) starts playing on the radio.
Cast
- Josh Hartnett as Slevin Kelevra/Henry
- Bruce Willis as Mr. Goodkat/Smith
- Morgan Freeman as The Boss
- Ben Kingsley as The Rabbi
- Lucy Liu as Lindsey
- Stanley Tucci as Detective Brikowski
- Michael Rubenfeld as Yitzchak The Fairy
- Peter Outerbridge as Detective Dumbrowski
- Kevin Chamberlin as Marty
- Dorian Missick as Elvis
- Mykelti Williamson as Sloe
- Scott Gibson as Max
- Sam Jaeger as Nick Fisher
- Danny Aiello as Roth
- Corey Stoll as Saul
- Robert Forster as Murphy
Reception
Box office
Lucky Number Slevin opened in 1,984 theaters in North America and grossed $7,031,921, with an average of $3,544 per theater and ranking #5 at the box office. The film ultimately earned $22,495,466 domestically and $33,813,415 internationally for a total of $56,308,881, above its $27 million budget.
Critical response
Lucky Number Slevin received mixed reviews from critics and has a "Rotten" score of 51% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 153 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9 out of 10. The critical consensus states "Trying too hard to be clever in a Pulp Fiction kind of way, this film succumbs to a convoluted plot, overly stylized characters and dizzying set design." The film also has a score of 53 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 36 critics indicating mixed or average reviews
Accolades
- Directors Guild of Canada
- Nominated: Outstanding Sound Editing - Feature Film
- Milan International Film Festival
- Won: Best Film (Paul McGuigan)
- Won: Best Actor (Josh Hartnett)
- Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA
- Nominated: Best Sound Editing for Music in a Feature Film
- Nominated: Best Sound Editing for Sound Effects and Foley in a Foreign Film
Home media
The film was released on DVD on September 12, 2006. and on Blu-ray November 8, 2008. To date the film has made $26,877,256 in home video sales, bringing its worldwide total to $83,186,137. This does not include rentals or Blu-ray sales.
References
External links
- Lucky Number Slevin at the Internet Movie Database
- Lucky Number Slevin at AllMovie
- Lucky Number Slevin at Rotten Tomatoes
- Lucky Number Slevin at Box Office Mojo
- Watch: Red Carpet Premiere, NYC, on independentfilm.com
