The first 20 minutes of Chris Ver Wiel’s film, including the colorful opening credits, seem to be heading in the direction of a 1960s-style caper comedy. Which can only be intentional, since this is a movie that knows movies. Tim Allen’s character, a hit man called Critical Jim, quotes them incessantly, much to the general confusion of the other characters. The Great Escape, Double Indemnity, The Dirty Dozen — they’re all in there. But movies that quote movies tend to lack the immediacy of the originals, and this film is no exception.

Christian Slater’s con man on the run takes on the identity of Cletis Tout — who aside from having one of the more unfortunate names in movie history ran afoul of the mob and got executed. But now the mob, thinking it rubbed out the wrong guy, sets about trying to kill the new Tout. After throwing into the mix a buried treasure and "the girl" (Portia de Rossi) who’s trying to recover it, the film eventually veers off into post-Tarantino territory, where every character has a tic that substitutes for character development. Billy Connolly (bad hair and Hawaiian shirts) and Richard Dreyfuss (homing pigeons and magic) are wasted as a wacky medical examiner with a shady sideline business and Tout’s partner in crime. But give Ver Wiel extra points for calling Slater on his career-long Jack Nicholson impersonation.