Benicio Del Toro: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

4. Longbaugh - The Way Of The Gun (2000)

The Way Of The Gun is one of those films that tricks you into thinking it's a "cult classic", when really the reason you've never heard of it is because it's a complete load of cobblers. Which it really shouldn't be, when you consider everything it had going for it: Usual Suspects writer Christopher McQuarrie graduated to the director's chair, brought his old pal Benicio along with him, and somehow managed to swing a supporting cast including Ryan Phillippe, Juliette Lewis and James Caan. By hook or by crook, though, this high concept crime thriller with a pretty novel premise came out a horrible contrived, impenetrable mess. That high concept is that Phillipe and del Toro play a couple of petty criminals who happen upon Lewis at a sperm donor clinic, where they learn she's being paid an extortionate amount of money to act as surrogate mother for a gangster's baby. They have the genius idea of kidnapping Lewis and holding her - and her womb - for ransom. We think, anyway. That's all a lot less clear in the film itself, which swaps the elegance of the Usual Suspect's mystery and double-crossing for...we don't even know what. The dialogue is the worst part, making even Fred Fenster seem eloquent with their cod-philosophical, trying-to-hard-to-be-badass musings sounding terrible even from Benicio's mouth.