Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead

Another dark comedy-thriller about lowlife hoods, the best thing about "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead" is its title. And, boy, does Quentin Tarantino have a lot to answer for.

Tarantino had nothing to do with this movie, but the obvious inspiration is "Reservoir Dogs" or perhaps "Pulp Fiction."

The rich ensemble cast is headed by Andy Garcia as a more noble hero than is usual in films like this, a retired crook (named "Jimmy the Saint") who is now running a bizarre afterlife-video company, testimonials from the nearly deceased for their loved ones to savor after their passing.

And since business ain't so good, and he owes money to wheel-chair-bound mob-boss Christopher Walken, it doesn't really take all that much to lure him back into a life of crime — if only to pay off one last debt.

Walken wants Garcia to put a scare into somebody. No big deal.

So, Garcia regroups his old gang — a soft-spoken, tattooed biker with a large family (William Forsythe); a disfigured, zany projectionist at a porn theater (Christopher Lloyd); an exterminator — of insects — (Bill Nunn); and a mortician's assistant, a hot-head who would much rather kill someone than reason with him (Treat Williams, who fairly steals the show with his scenery-chewing antics).

They are at first reluctant, but Garcia convinces them it's easy money for easy work. Naturally, the action goes awry, Walken issues death warrants on all of them and they soon find themselves pursued by a tenacious hit man (Steve Buscemi).

All of this is played out as darkly comic, and some of the conceits are too cutesy by half. The rest of the film is made up of in-your-face violence and gore, along with some genuinely disgusting vulgarity.

Writer Scott Rosenberg ("Beautiful Girls") and first-time feature director Gary Fleder have a few good ideas, though most of them don't really work. And their dialogue isn't nearly as clever as they seem to think it is.

Maybe they should have called in Tarantino for a rewrite.

"Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead" is rated R for violence, gore, sex, nudity, profanity and vulgarity.