Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Michael Ledo The film starts out with a funeral, followed by four of his buddies having a drink and smoking a doobie. Zach (Michael Pitt) is a portfolio manager and is engaged to Janie (Morgan Wolk). Noah (Dan Stevens) was the class geek. He was bullied and is still a bit socially awkward. Bryce (Rob Brown) has a hot stock tip. And Warren (Christopher Abbott) rounds out the foursome.It starts out innocent enough as Noah was able to come up with the money for our foursome to invest in Bidexco stock. As fate would have it the stock fails. Noah borrowed the money from the mob and Eddie (John Travolta) wants his money with interest. Clearly our guys don't have the money, so they reluctantly agree to kidnap Marques (Edi Gathegi) for Eddie so he can exchange for his kidnapped niece.The film flows in a dark, quirky and sometimes twisty manner. Then at the very end the film twists in multiple ways which frankly I didn't see coming.Travolta looked like he is using Botox and his hair looked like it was plastic. Good crime/drama/thriller with some dark humor.Guide: F-bomb, sex, nudity (Morgan Wolk)

Ed-Shullivan Criminal Activities has a good cast for talent in the main roles with Michael Pitt, Dan Stevens, Christopher Abbott, Rob Brown, Edi Gathegi and John Travolta. The premise of the film is four old friends come up with a financial investment plan to make a small fortune but they need $200K in seed money which one of the four old friends arranges to get a loan for. When their financial investment plan quickly goes south their anonymous financial backer comes forward and demands his $200K back immediately plus another $200K in interest, or else their heads will be handed to them, literally. The loan arranger is connected to the mob underworld and he tells his four patsies that he will wipe the slate clean of the $400K loan if they agree to kidnap another hood and hold him for just 24 hours. So the kidnapping plan is set in motion with the four amateurs and although it hits a few snags they eventually get the kidnapping completed and they keep the mob hostage tied up for their loan shark waiting to get the green light to let him go.What follows is about 60 minutes of continuous blather by all cast members including a whole lot of four letter words that rhyme with the word "PUCK". Most sensible film goers would at some point get up and ask for a refund but since I purchased the Blu Ray I chose to bear with the directors master(less)piece and although I was becoming very irritated with the endless blather of totally useless dialogue by the six main characters which I assumed was necessary to fill an otherwise empty void to completing a 94 minute movie I hung in there and I was rewarded with a better than average film end.I don't want to spoil any film goers surprise ending or personal experience with Criminal Activities but to summarize the film in three acts I would rate: Act One (1) with a "C" rating, Act Two (2) with a "D" rating, and the final act, Act Three (3) with a "B+" plus rating. So if you can hang in there through a pretty boring middle half of the film with a lot of useless four letter word dialogue you may be pleasantly surprised with an above average decent film ending.

chilipeppers-17879 TO PERSON WHO ARE GOING TO SEE THE MOVE....This will give away a lot of it, so I suggest you read this AFTER you've seen the movie.I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. And I know it's only fiction, but the plan revealed at the end had some major flaws. How did the guy making the plan know the following stuff: 1. The guy behind the stock was going to be arrested? 2. The two friends not involved with the scam were going to be interested in investing in the stock? 2.Their two friends not involved in the scam were going to go along with the kidnapping plan and not go directly to the cops? 3.The kidnapping was going to be successful? This means:a. The guy being kidnapped wasn't going to be able to maneuver out of it especially since he had a gunb. The feds chasing them weren't going to be able to stop them? 4. The kidnappers uncle was going to offer a reward for his nephew? AND go through with it especially after he learned his nephew was a rat?

vcgraves Anyone involved with this movie should just be ashamed of themselves. Why?The script, if there was one, was just a bunch of guys yelling f-words at each other. Worthless, f, f, f, this, and f, f, f, that.Cinematography? Shaky cam shot by a 12-year-old. Not one interesting visual. Plot? Forget it. Interest? None. Acting? Beyond lame. This is a product with a major star (Travolta) vying for your consumer dollar. The problem is, it's utter garbage. Do not waste a minute of your life on this sad rip-off.