Every Once Upon A Time Movie Ranked Worst To Best

11. ...Venice

Brad Pitt Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Voltage Pictures

As its alternate UK title (LA Vengeance) might imply Once Upon A Time In Venice doesn't even have the draw of being set in the interesting Venice. No canals and bridges of the iconic Floating City form the backdrop here. Instead we're in sun-bleached Venice Beach, California for the latest round of "Bruce Willis really doesn't care any more, does he?"

Once Upon A Time In Venice comes from the Cullen brothers, whose script A Couple Of Dicks provided Willis with the lead in the dud Kevin Smith buddy movie that was eventually retitled Cop Out. Just as that movie ended up with the laziest possible name because nobody could be bothered with a better title, so is this the one film on this list where the Once Upon A Time doesn't feel like it's reaching to make a grand statement. It just feels like the film is called this because nobody could come up with anything better.

In a literal shaggy dog story, Willis plays a private detective whose beloved mutt is kidnapped by a local gang and he has to go through a convoluted series of tasks to get it back.

Everyone in the surprisingly starry cast, from Jason Momoa to John Goodman, is phoning it in. But Willis in particular looks like he'd rather be somewhere else. Maybe the real Venice.

Contributor
Contributor

Loves ghost stories, mysteries and giant ape movies