Unlucky wannabe cult classic

With "Lucky Number Slevin" director Paul McGuigan ("Wicker Park") tries to become a contemporary of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Richie but outright fails to hit his mark. \nMore boring than clever, "Lucky Number Slevin" stars Josh Hartnett as Slevin, a man who arrives in New York City to visit his friend Nick (Sam Jaeger) after being fired from his job, losing his apartment and walking in on his girlfriend with another man. Nick is missing while a case of mistaken identity places Slevin in his place forcing him to deal with Nick's gambling debts and landing him in the pocket of two of the cities warring gangsters: The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley) and The Boss (Morgan Freeman). \nTo make matters worse Detective Brikowski (Stanly Tucci) is also convinced that Slevin is more than he seems. Add in professional assassin Mr. Goodkat (Bruce Willis) and Slevin seems to be in a world of trouble. Luckily, Nick's drop dead gorgeous, ditzy but resourceful coroner neighbor Lindsey (Lucy Liu) teams up with Slevin in an attempt to save his life, find her neighbor and the two madly fall in love. \nBut there is more going on in "Lucky Number Slevin" and boy does McGuigan want us to know it. In the opening scene the audience is told the definition of the term "Kansas City Shuffle" by Mr. Goodkat. "You get everybody to look left, then you go right." The problem with this movie is it tries to be clever instead of offering anything interesting or new to the viewer. Slevin relies on cool dialogue, hip characters and reoccurring motifs seen in previous, better films. It is impossible to watch the film without being reminded of "The Usual Suspects," "Snatch" or "Pulp Fiction," among others. \nSure the editing is hip and the dialogue's just so darn witty, but the whole thing feels insincere and awkward. Most of the characters have the same personalities and identities and none of the actors play them interestingly.\nThere are moments where the performances are enjoyable, particularly with Liu and Kingsley. But Willis was wooden and Freeman played a great … well, Morgan Freeman. \nThe movie was a series of letdowns. At several points the plot and dialogue seemed to be moving in an interesting direction, yet each time it shifted back into its monotonous and predictable storyline.\nThe film will no doubt be a hit with those of you who have given "Boondock Saints" its undeserving cult classic status. Like "Saints," "Lucky Number Slevin" attempts a hyper stylized method of cinematography and editing seen too much on today's silver screen. It substitutes good storytelling and interesting filmmaking for clichés, boredom and old hat tricks. \nIf your looking for a clever and interesting well acted, written and directed movie still in the theaters than this is not it. Spike Lee's "The Inside Man" is infinitely more fitting of that description. The quality of "Lucky Number Slevin" on the other hand, is simply insulting.