Damning with Faint Praise: PETE SMALLS IS DEAD

KC Monk (Peter Dinklage) used to be a Hollywood bigshot. He has an Academy Award for a screenplay that he wrote.

After a while, though, he fell out of the limelight. He runs a laundry far away from the bright lights.

His buddy Jack (Mark Boone, Jr.) stayed behind and teaches people to act from inside cardboard boxes.

Their buddy, Pete Smalls (Tim Roth), became a big-budget Hollywood director.

KC is in debt to a loan shark. His best friend is an aging dog, mostly blind from cataracts. The day that Pete Smalls dies, the loan shark kidnaps KC’s dog to get KC to pay up.

Jack says he can help KC get the money, but first KC has to come to Hollywood to attend Pete’s funeral.

Unfortunately for KC, Jack is more of a dreamer than a doer, and KC is quickly over his head with Panda-suited pizza delivery guys and Armenian gangsters.

Verdict
Peter Dinklage’s dignity and panache elevate this otherwise mediocre neo-noir to a must-see.

Criticisms that this film comes a little too close to Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye (masterfully adopted by Robert Altman) are entirely accurate.

The parade of colorful characters starts once KC gets to Los Angeles and so does KC’s existential journey.

As a Peter Dinklage fan, I wanted to like this movie even more than I did. The cast is fantastic, including Steve Buscemi, Seymour Cassel, Lena Headey, Carol Kane, Michael Lerner, and Rosie Perez.

However, I felt like the writing left KC Monk as too much of an enigma. His greatest fear and his greatest desire never really gel, so it’s tough to figure out where the climax is supposed to be.

When you are creating a character, you need to make sure you have those two things clear in your head from the beginning. After that you can add quirks and mannerisms.

KC’s context is clear, as is his conflict. Because he has left his Hollywood life behind, he can focus on rescuing his dog. However, the people who keep saying that they will help are very tied up in their own lives.

Jack wants KC to come back to LA and be a writer again.

Saskia (Theresa Wayman) wants KC.

Len (Michael Lerner) and Bernie (Steve Buscemi) want a Pete Smalls movie, not a KC Monk script.

Saco (Seymour Cassel) wants a “love picture.”

The plot revolves around KC working his way, doggedly (pun intended), toward getting the money to pay off the loan shark and get back his dog.

The three-act story arc of Pete Smalls Is Dead is pretty typical for mystery stories. Act I is all about establishing the mystery. In this case, it ends with the viewing of Pete Smalls’ body in the morgue.

Act II is about investigating the mystery. In this case, it ends with KC and Jack following a clue to Mexico.

Act III is about resolving the mystery – catching the bad guys, or getting justice.

In this case, it’s about dealing with the fallout from Pete’s death, ownership of the script, KC’s dog, and Saskia.

So why didn’t I like it more?

Conclusion
This is a terrific indie flick, but it  is only a mediocre bit of neo-noir film because KC Monk’s character is unclear, and because it owes a bit too much to a better movie.

If you like neo-noir or you are as big a Peter Dinklage fan as I am, see this. Just remembering the movie while I write this makes me smile.

Otherwise, see The Long Goodbye with Elliot Gould.