Diesel takes the act out of action

In a film industry that has recently been saturated with no-acting muscleheads, moviegoers were hoping last Friday for a clever reprieve in Brian Koppelman's Knockaround Guys, an updated mobster pic. Unfortunately, audiences will have to wait a bit longer.

Much to the chagrin of educated film connoisseurs, Vin Diesel has become Hollywood's hot new Sly-Stalone action actor. Blockbuster hits like The Fast and the Furious and the shockingly similar, car chase and extreme stunt-filled Triple X have made Diesel a household name. In fact, producers actually held the release of Knockaround Guys for two years in order to allow Diesel to build his hard-hitting resume.

Diesel joins pals Seth Green (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Austin Powers trilogy), Barry Pepper (The Green Mile, Saving Private Ryan) and newcomer Andrew Davoli as one of four up-and-coming gangsters' sons who are sent on a mission to recover a half-million dollars from a bump-on-a-log town in Montana. Conflict arises from the tense relationship between the four men, each of whom has to struggle with his own sordid past to rise to the mobster challenge.

Skip this flick if you want to preserve your pristine memory of classic gangster films like Goodfellas. Diesel has a quieter role in Knockaround Guys, but this seemingly welcome change of pace reveals Diesels total lack of acting ability.

If you're into gritty crime dramas but want to avoid the black hole that is Vin Diesel, pick up a pre-Swept Away era Guy Ritchie movie, like Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.

Knockaround Guys is rated R for violence, language, and adult themes