Welcome to Collinwood

After getting busted for grand theft auto and sent to prison, Cosimo (Guzman) hears of the perfect crime from his Lifer cellmate. Unable to get out of the joint, Cosimo tells girlfriend Rosalind (Clarkson) to offer $15,000 for anyone who would take the rap and do his time for him. The problems start when she tries to get someone to take the blame because as the more people turn her down the more people become interested in Cosimo's perfect job, his Bellini.

Producers Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney introduce us to the saddest punch of losers ever to try a heist.

Writers/Directors the Russo brothers try and step into Coen country, adapting an Italian caper movie, I Soliti Ignoti, into a character based comedy set in the worst part of Cleveland, Ohio. Gathering an excellent ensemble cast, the brothers inject a lot of wit and slapstick into what is a very slight story.

Sam Rockwell proves again that he is an up and coming actor to watch, taking the lead has failed boxer Pero. William H. Macy is as brilliant as ever and has all the best lines, the late Michael Jeter shows what a great comedic actor he was and Luis Guzmán is suitably over-the-top as Cosimo. There is even a very memorable, if extremely short (you wouldn't get this from his large, leading man image on the UK poster) cameo from George Clooney as safecracker Jerzy, which is laugh out loud funny.

The main problem with the movie is that however good the cast are, they haven't really got a lot to work with. The story is quite slow moving and nothing much happens even when we get to the farcically thought out heist. Don't get me wrong there are some very funny situations and you will have a smile on your face throughout the picture but this is only because of the charming performances from the cast and not the overall story.

Welcome to Collinwood is nice, comedic heist flick that is made all the more watchable because of the excellent cast. It isn't a movie that is going to stick in the mind very long but it is very enjoyable and a good way to steal away an hour and a half of your time.

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2003