Reviews & Ratings for
Pete Smalls Is Dead More at IMDbPro »

10 out of 13 people found the following review useful:

A very unusual take on film noir

Author: vic-232 from United States
20 July 2012

This movie kept me involved and entertained from beginning to end. Most of its conventions are drawn from film noir, albeit it might better be describes as a comedy of the absurd. With better distribution, it could become a cult classic.

Peter Dinklage is the hapless hero, struggling through the depths of Hollywood sleaze to get the $10,000 he needs to ransom his elderly dog. His buddy, played by Mark Boone Junior, has greater ambitions; but despite life and alcohol induced craziness, genuinely is a true friend.

Dinklage, as usual, is extraordinary, and his role is written so that his dwarfism is not even among the top five traits shaping his fully-formed character. If you are tired of the usual pap and want something to stimulate your brain as well as your senses, find this film.

14 out of 21 people found the following review useful:

a Film Noir à la Big Lebowski

Author: maya-maya from United Kingdom
16 June 2012

This movie has all the elements of an old Film Noir: a missing person (well, dog), a mysterious woman, a voice-over narration by the main character (nicely played by Peter Dinklage), and a slightly convoluted main plot. The message; whether it is in fact a deeper look at the machinations of Hollywood (and the good and the bad that goes with it) or not, is not as important as the overall atmosphere.

The bits that feel just too far out and too unrealistic are more than made up for by both the excellent cast and the road trip/generally trippy vibe that seems reminiscent of the Big Lebowski.

It's certainly not for everyone; bring some time and willingness to go with the flow. Then it's a gem of a movie that is well worth a watch -and a re-watch.

12 out of 19 people found the following review useful:

close to the real deal

Author: markandkarenfitz
25 February 2012

This is one of those films you hope that YOU will be the discover of. The quirky oddity you will recommend heartily to friends. Great cast. Great characters. Some pretty funny dialog. Plot... not so much. A little too convoluted.. just a bit, though. Peter Dinklage is always great. The entire cast is great. The female love interest, new to me, is really the female equivalent of what I wanted this movie to be; my secret discovery. She's lovely.The character actor, I recognize but can't name, who plays Buscemi's buddy was particularly good.

It's one of those films that could have been better but, not being an expert, I am not sure what it needs. I liked it though.

12 out of 22 people found the following review useful:

almost a Coen brothers movie

Author: Lee Eisenberg ([email protected]) from Portland, Oregon, USA
3 January 2012

I knew practically nothing about "Pete Smalls Is Dead" when I started watching it, which made it even more of a treat. Peter Dinklage plays a man who goes to LA to attend the funeral of a deceased friend...but discovers that there's more to his friend than just the death.

After watching the movie for a few minutes, I got the feeling that it could easily be a Coen Brothers movie (although it has a different director). The quirky characters and presence of Steve Buscemi -- wearing a curly blond wig! -- give it that feeling.

"PSID" isn't any kind of great movie, but it's certainly worth seeing. Pretty fun. Also starring Mark Boone Junior, Rosie Perez, Lena Headey and Michael Lerner.

1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:

Pete Smalls Is Dull (2010)

Author: Dan_Fogler from Edinbruhhh
2 January 2017

With a cast like this that alone should make for a pretty interesting movie, but unfortunately that is not the case and it is a rather forgettable tale.

So forgettable in fact that I forgot I had already seen it a couple years back and didn't realise until when I (re)watched it today 30 minutes in when Steve Buscemi shows up in an awful blonde afro wig that I had indeed seen it before.

It's supposed to be a comedy, but it's just not particularly funny. And in the end when the "mystery" is solved (I say that lightly because it's pretty obvious and it's not a mystery movie as such) in retrospect the script is rather stupid as well.

I made sure to write a review and rate it this time around so I don't have the misfortune of possibly watching it again in a couple of years when I very possibly would have forgotten about it all over again.

A very weak 4/10 from me, it would have been less if not for Peter Dinklage and Theresa Wayman.

1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:

i love this so much it makes me sad... :(

Author: Jagggged45 from ImaginationLand, USA
2 October 2014

Caught this movie on cable by accident, and I'M SO GLAD I DID! this adorable film is everything cult-classics are made of, and i'll never understand why more people didn't love it as much as i did. Yes, i know how to punctuate properly, but touchscreen keyboards are a total pain in the buttocks and i hate them. The acting was exemplary, the script and direction were fun, quirky and understatedly hilarious (i love deadpan humor, am i the ONLY one who does? Really? Okay. Sadface.). A special added bonus for Game Of Thrones fans; this is probably the first time peter dinklage and lena headey acted together, and IT IS WONDERFUL. My tastes aren't like everyone else's because most people are boring and dumb, but personally, i love this movie so much that whenever it comes on cable (which isn't nearly often enough), i take the day off work (i can do that because i'm cooler than you, ha ha) just to get drunk and watch it again. Gonna buy it as soon as i figure out how to make amazon show me the movies i own on a touch-tablet, i don't know why amazon won't give me my movie library on a new machine, does anyone else? Amazon can bite me, but if you want a fun buddy- movie that's not-quite-like the buddy movies you've seen before, or if you're an aspiring filmmaker, or if you love game of thrones, or if you're a human with a functioning brain, you should probably go ahead and give an hour of your life th check this movie out. I loved it.

1 out of 3 people found the following review useful:

A hidden gem

Author: Aki Savolainen from Finland/Estonia
27 September 2014

This film was certainly not what I expected it to be. Luckily, it was much more than that.

I stumbled across the title while searching for a film with Peter Dinklage, whose style I really do enjoy. Here he plays a hapless laundromat owner, who needs to find ten thousand dollars to recover his near-blind dog from a loan shark who had him taken as collateral on unpaid debts.

This is what starts a dark comedy written with pacing, style and tropes taken from old film noirs. An original idea, that does deliver the goods. Helping the success are the characters, very human with their many flaws and thus also very practical comedy vehicles.

As the film ends, the style has been enjoyable, the cheerfulness despite of all the sad smudge has been constant, and the open-minded viewer will be happy that they spent their time on this unfortunately forgotten piece of film.

2 out of 8 people found the following review useful:

Pete Smalls is Dead and this movie is barely breathing.

Author: Ten-Inch-Toni from United States
10 March 2014

I watched it because I'm a fan of Peter Dinklage's work. He was fine in this film. I loved the voice over storytelling. But I'm not a fan of Hollywood films about Hollywood. At least not fiction films about making films in Hollywood.

If this sounds convoluted, well yeah, it is and so is this film. I really can't fault any of the actors; I think for their part they were all believable in their roles. The story was just boring.

It's listed as a comedy that is dark, quirky and cynical. Well they certainly got the cynical part right but cynicism without humor is an exercise in tedium. I guess the quirky part is Steve Buscemi, another actor I enjoy, in a beige/blond curly clown wig looking like he'd been smoking 40 packs of cigarettes a day. Steve is usually great with the wry humor and quirky character portrayal; sadly, his character was pathetic. In fact all the characters were sad and pathetic.

I found myself skipping ahead every few minutes and then watching a few minutes and then skipping ahead. I didn't miss anything. You know it's like watching a soap opera every single day for three months and then missing the soap opera for a couple months; when you start watching again you realize Joan is still in the coma, Frank is still having the affair, and Cassandra is still making trouble for all of them.

This was 94 minutes of watching Peter Dinklage's character, KC Munk, trying to drum up 10k to get his much beloved dog back from the loan shark that took it to cover the debt. Munk spends the entire film riding on the back of a moped while his friend "Shemp" peddles him from place to place trying to either secure the 10k or get his stolen script back so he can sell it to get his 10k so he can get his dog back. I just couldn't care about the characters even though they spoke in soft and meaningful tones, it just didn't get me there.

I don't like the system Netflix uses, the like or dislike, but I'm going to have to only give this two stars even though I like the actor's performances I hated the story and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. For IMDb I always double whatever I rate on Netflix; so my IMDb rating is FOUR stars ~ PhaedraBlue 03/10/14 ~

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