The Prince of Pennsylvania (1988)

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Siskoid
It's too bad about The Prince of Pennsylvania. It had a lot of things going for it, not least of which a pretty good performance by Keanu Reeves, but also a stupid criminals plot of the type I love to see fall apart, and characters that don't feel pulled from stock. Really, everyone has a little something extra to make them seem fresh and interesting. It just doesn't work structurally, is all. I checked the clock and the plot only finally kicks in at the exact mid-point, meandering until that time. Yes, we're getting to know the characters, but there doesn't seem to be a point. Once we're in it, there are some very fun bits - Keanu's character has kidnapped his own father from a coal mine and is desperate to get ransom, but it's a terrible plan - only it crashes to a rather unsatisfying resolution. Or rather, the resolution is fine, but the epilogue feels wrong, isn't properly set up, or else fails to pay off certain things the film spent too much time on. And that last line is a real groaner. A swing and a miss, but in other hands, could have been a minor classic. 4 years 9 months ago