Bienvenue à Collinwood

Welcome to Collinwood is just a remake of a successful film and it also navigates in considerably overused waters. Within its genre, it certainly does not represent anything groundbreaking, but the current rating on FilmBooster is somewhat harsh and I think this film deserves better. To be honest, compared to the much better-received Coen brothers remake, The Ladykillers, I enjoyed Welcome to Collinwood much more. At the very least, Welcome to Collinwood hamuch more believable human characters and dialogues compared to The Ladykillers. But the Coen brothers are the Coen brothers and the Russos are the Russos... The movie's big advantage is its cast and the performances. George Clooney, usually cast in roles of smooth gentlemen and playboys, is irresistible in the role of a tattooed safe-breaker confined to a wheelchair, and William H. Macy is similarly appealing as a weak loser who seeks shelter behind his child in intense situations. The underused Sam Rockwell maximized the potential of his role. The film's weakness lies in the script, which completely gave up on the socially critical aspect compared to the original and lacks impactful plot twists. Some characters don't utilize their potential, for example, the unfortunate thief Luis Guzmán unnecessarily disappears from the story. Furthermore, toward the end of the film, there is some cheap sentiment and a romantic element. The ending could have been more intense and a pinch of black humor at the end would not have hurt. Despite the mentioned reservations, I give it a solid 65%. (08/07/2008)