Lucky Number Slevin


Lucky Number Slevin is a 2006 crime thriller film directed by Paul McGuigan, written by Jason Smilovic, and starring Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, Stanley Tucci, Morgan Freeman, and Ben Kingsley.
Set in New York City, the plot focuses on the paths of Slevin Kelevra, Lindsey, two feuding crime lords known as The Boss and The Rabbi, and a mysterious hitman known as Mr. Goodkat.
It was the first Weinstein Company film to be distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Plot

Two bookies are separately ambushed and murdered by their unseen killers; elsewhere, a young man is killed by a sniper. In a bus terminal, a young man is approached by Goodkat, who tells the story of Max and the Kansas City Shuffle: two decades earlier, Max borrowed money from the mob to bet on a fixed horse race, only for the horse to die mid-race. To set an example to make sure nobody else would try to bet on a fixed race, the mob killed Max, his wife and young son Henry. Goodkat describes the "Kansas City Shuffle", a misleading double bluff, then tricks and kills the young man, taking the body in a truck.
In New York City, Slevin Kelevra is staying in his friend Nick Fisher's apartment and, upon being visited by Nick's neighbor Lindsey, discusses Nick's disappearance and why his apartment was unlocked. Lindsey suggests that Nick may be missing and, after she leaves, Slevin is kidnapped by two henchmen, who take him to "The Boss". Mistaking Slevin for Nick, The Boss orders him to repay a large gambling debt or kill the son of his rival, "The Rabbi"; The Boss believes The Rabbi is responsible for assassinating his son, and wants The Rabbi's homosexual son, Yitzchok "The Fairy", to be killed in revenge. Slevin returns to the apartment, but is kidnapped again, this time by two of The Rabbi's Jewish henchmen. Like the Boss, The Rabbi also mistakes Slevin for Nick, and also demands he repay a large gambling debt. Slevin tells The Boss he will kill The Fairy. Concurrently with Slevin visiting the mob bosses, it becomes apparent Goodkat is somehow involved in both sides and is responsible for Nick's debts being called in, and that he plans to kill Slevin after The Fairy dies and make it look like they both committed suicide.
Slevin and Lindsey go out to dinner, where Slevin arranges a date with The Fairy. Slevin is approached by Detective Brikowski, who is investigating The Boss and The Rabbi. Birkowski, who used to bet big with one of the murdered bookies, has also been informed that Goodkat is back in town for the first time in twenty years and think there's a connection between The Boss, The Rabbi, Goodkat, and Slevin. The detective hassles him again later and Slevin reveals his full name. Slevin arrives for his date at The Fairy's apartment and fatally shoots him, only for Goodkat to appear. Rather than shoot Slevin, however, Goodkat finishes The Fairy, revealing Slevin and Goodkat are working together. Slevin then brings the bus terminal victim's body, revealed to be Nick Fisher, into the apartment while Goodkat kills The Fairy's bodyguards. Together, they blow up the apartment and the bodies, faking Slevin's death in the process. Goodkat and Slevin kidnap The Boss and The Rabbi, with both awakening restrained in The Boss's penthouse. Slevin appears and explains the overarching twist: Slevin is Henry, the son of the ill-fated Max, and the mobsters who killed Max were The Boss and The Rabbi. Goodkat is revealed as the assassin hired to kill young Henry, who after an attack of conscience took him in and raised him instead.
Slevin reveals after twenty years later, he and Goodkat killed the mobsters' bookies and stole the ledgers in the process. After identifying Nick as owing a great deal of money to both sides, they killed him and stole his identity. Then Slevin murdered The Boss's son in order to get The Boss to contract Goodkat to murder The Rabbi's son in revenge. Goodkat took the contract to kill The Fairy from The Boss and convinced The Rabbi he'd protect The Fairy on the condition they both call in Nick's debts, granting Slevin and Goodkat unhindered access to the heavily guarded mobsters as their ally, under his Nick Fisher alias. After revealing his identity, Slevin suffocates The Rabbi and The Boss by taping plastic bags over their heads, killing them the same way they killed his father. Since Lindsey earlier photographed Goodkat while investigating Nick's disappearance, Goodkat shoots her to protect his identity.
While Brikowski is hunting for Slevin he gets a phone call from his boss and learns the meaning of the pseudonym Slevin Kelevra: "Lucky Number Slevin" was the horse his father had bet on, and "Kelevra" is Hebrew for bad dog, mirroring Goodkat's name. It is revealed that Brikowski murdered Slevin's mother to pay his own gambling debts twenty years ago. As he hears this story Brikowski resigns himself to his fate as Slevin, showing real anger for the first time, appears in Brikowski's backseat and shoots him finishing his masterpiece of revenge.
Sometime later at the bus terminal Slevin is met by Lindsey, and it is revealed that Goodkat's informed Slevin he had to murder Lindsey because she had a picture of him. It's also revealed around the same time that Slevin explained his true identity to Lindsey and helped fake her death. When Goodkat appears, aware of the trickery, Slevin explains he had to save Lindsey and didn't think Goodkat would understand. Since Goodkat had saved Slevin as a boy he states he understood and agrees to leave Lindsey alone. Goodkat gives Slevin back his father's old watch and then disappears into the crowd. Flash back twenty years to when Goodkat first spared young Henry, they drive away and Goodkat turns on the radio to a song titled "Kansas City Shuffle".

Cast

Box office

Lucky Number Slevin opened in 1,984 theaters in North America and grossed $7,031,921, with an average of $3,544 per theater and ranking #5 at the box office. The film ultimately earned $22,495,466 domestically and $33,813,415 internationally for a total of $56,308,881, above its $27 million budget.

Critical response

Lucky Number Slevin has received mixed reviews., the film holds 52% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 155 reviews, with an average rating of 5.91 out of 10. The critical consensus states "Trying too hard to be clever in a Pulp Fiction kind of way, this film succumbs to a convoluted plot, overly-stylized characters and dizzying set design." The film also has a score of 53 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 36 critics indicating mixed or average reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Accolades

;Directors Guild of Canada
;Milan International Film Festival
;Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA:
The film was released on DVD on September 12, 2006. and on Blu-ray November 8, 2008. To date the film has made $26,877,256 in home video sales, bringing its worldwide total to $83,186,137. This does not include rentals or Blu-ray sales.