Starts off lame, gets somewhat better...

"Flypaper" is a twist upon bank robbery/heist movies in which two gangs decide to rob the same bank at the same time. Both gangs take bank employees as hostages. At first, the characters are thinly drawn and stereotypical -- the "professional" gang has a bloodthirsty/loose-cannon British guy, a determined, no-nonsense black guy that's the nominal leader, and a very intelligent dweeb-y Jewish guy (played by an Italian-American, according to H'wood tradition); the rank amateurs are 2 Southern white trash guys from central casting. Ashley Judd the the Girl Next Store bank teller; there's a chunky, irreverently sassy black woman teller; the security consultant is a textbook techno-dweeb/nerd, the bank guard is tubby & sleazy, Jeffrey Tambor plays the bank boss/uptight corporate type (surprise), etc. P. Dempsey (who produced) plays an obsessive-compulsive customer that Judd's character at first thinks he's CUTE, then CAN'T STAND him, then she seems to like him, THEN SHE CAN'T STAND HIM (golly, never saw that in a movie before). The dialogue is predictable and the jokes are painfully obvious, UNTIL stuff Starts to Go Wrong big-time. THEN the movie turns into a A. Christie-type mystery.

I'm glad I stuck with it -- it's not a great movie to be sure, but it was entertaining in a wonder-what's-gonna-happen-next way. The acting and dialogue is nothing special but the plot is kind of novel in a totally only-in-the-movies manner. Also, if you're looking for "realism," FORGET IT -- this is the kind of movie where there are BIG EXPLOSIONS and LOTS of GUNFIRE yet NO ONE SEEMS TO HEAR IT AT ALL. It's nicely paced & doesn't drag...it's silly but in an entertaining way. I can understand why this movie didn't get a wide release! (According to imdb, it was released on 2 screens in the USA -- maybe it got an overseas release, I dunno.) For a $2 rental, it was OK -- had I spend $10 at a theater, no.