And sometimes you'll watch Palookaville.

Perhaps that's a bit too harsh of an intro to the review of a film I actually enjoyed to some degree. But the fact is, I remember very little about the film already, mere hours after watching it. Just as I forgot the premise between seeing it the first time in 1996 and seeing it again on DVD, I've now already forgotten much outside the basic plot points.

So, perhaps a better intro would be: Palookaville is a good, yet forgettable comedy. Or at least, I think it is.

Palookaville tells the story of three friends with no jobs and no prospects, who consider a life of crime to make ends meet. The film opens with them attempting to rob a jewelry store after hours, but mistakenly breaking into the bakery next door. This sets up, in a surprisingly unfunny way, the fact that these guys are schmucks who can't do anything right. After the heist fails, it's back to the drawing board. The well of ideas is dry, until one day they save the life of an armored truck driver and return the money to safety. It's not until after the incident that they begin conceiving a plan to rob the truck during it's regular rounds through the neighborhood.

Sounds funny, right? Sounds promising? Not really. It's actually flat and borders on boring. Sure, the basic premise shows the film has promise, but in reality there's nothing here. It's a movie of could've beens. It could've been funny had this scene been extended or amplified in some way. It would've had a heart if the subplots were developed further. It could've been fresh had it just reached a little further and added some depth to that promising premise.

Unfortunately, the characters are cardboard cutouts of every other group of guys found in a comedic buddy film. Vincent Gallo is Russell, the hard-nosed leader of the group with all the ideas; Adam Tresse is Jerry (who is so much like Ross from Friends, both in appearance and in action, that I began to think they were related), the one who always gets them into trouble, and William Forsythe is Sid, the so-called intelligent one. Plus, of course, there's Ed (Gareth Williams), the harassing yet bumbling cop who's suspicious of their actions.

Sure, each character has quirky details that should make him stand out, but instead, these details are just window dressing. Almost as if they're pasted on in an attempt to give the characters personality and depth. Yet there's no character development whatsoever. Not that a comedy needs too much of that, but any good story needs some. I mean, how am I supposed to care about the characters, right?

But at the same time, why do I need to care about them when I already know what's going to happen at the end? Before the blown heist is over, I already knew how the movie would end, at least in general terms. And the story goes exactly as expected.

Sadly, the portions of the film that could've driven it are left underused and unfinished. Russell considers running away with the school kid next door. Sid meets a very promising love interest with all sorts of possibilities. Both storylines could've given the film some heart, but they're left dangling throughout the movie, like an apple in front of a mule.

In the end, Palookaville is just flat. A promising movie with too few laughs and too many wasted opportunities.

THE VIDEO
I have to admit, knowing it was a small budget film, I wasn't expecting too much out of the video quality of Palookaville, so I was pleasantly surprised by the crispness of this transfer. Presented in 1.85 nonanamorphic widescreen, the video offers sharp detail and consistent, bright colors. And the shadows have depth, too, unlike many independent films-turned-DVD.

Not all the news is good, however. A few scenes do have some halo effects, but nothing that distracts from the overall presentation. What does distract is the general fuzzy look of many dark scenes. In these instances, the film loses its crispness and the colors appear faded. The shadows are overcome with noise. These problems seem more offensive when the clip is surrounded by good quality, high-detail close ups.

Despite the drawbacks, the transfer is mostly a good one, it just runs into some problems along the way.

Oh, and there's also a standard full frame edition of the movie on the flip side of the disc that should be ignored.

THE AUDIO
Where I was pleasantly surprised by the video quality of the Palookaville DVD, I was rather disappointed in the audio options. This disc boasts only a 2.0 English and a 2.0 Spanish track. And although I'd normally have no issues with that, the sound was too soft throughout the movie. I had to turn up the volume well past its usual spot to hear the voices clearly. Once the volume was increased, the sound was crisp and clear, but it lacked range. In other words, a little more bass and a lot more umph would have been nice, even in this dialog driven film.

THE BONUS FEATURES
Full frame and widescreen trailers of other MGM titles available on DVD. Yippee.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Palookaville is nothing you haven't seen before, even if you've never seen it. Although it's entertaining as a whole and has some good highlights, for the most part, it falls flat with cardboard cutouts as characters and subplots that go nowhere. With some fleshed out characters, it could've been a good, lighthearted drama. Or with some more comedic episodes, it could've been an outright comedy. Unfortunately, it does neither.

The DVD presentation, like the film, does have some good points, but nothing that would warrant a solid recommendation. It's a worthy rental, but not much more.