One Day As A Lion has its moments, but unfortunately the story doesn’t come together well enough to make this movie work.
One Day As A Lion has a promising synopsis, which is why it is so sad that it never really works. The story follows Jackie Powers (Scott Caan) who is tasked with killing Walter Boggs (J.K. Simmons) because he owes a whole lot of money to Pauly Russo (Frank Grillo). Powers isn’t a professional hit man, which becomes apparent as soon as he screws the job up, which only makes Boggs angry. In the process, he takes a young waitress named Lola Brisky (Marianne Rendón) hostage.
This is an entertaining set up, but unfortunately it all goes downhill from here. As more and more storylines are weaved in, the film becomes a convoluted mess. We learn why Powers took the job, which parents will be able to relate to, but it never gets fully fleshed out. It seems the prison system doesn’t ever confirm people are related to who they say they are, which is ridiculously unbelievable.
On top of that, Lola has her own issues to deal with when it comes to her rich mother, who is dying from cancer. Her and Jackie work together to try to con her out of her money, and even if it is for a good reason, it is pretty low. The rate at which Lola and Jackie connect, and how quickly they form a relationship is also quite unrealistic. Especially when you consider how they first met.
Meanwhile Russo sends one of his men after Powers, instead of tasking him with tracking down Boggs. If you are already confused, yeah, I don’t blame you. There is one more thing, however. Russo’s man is sleeping with Powers’ ex-wife, and the mother of his son.
On top of that, One Day As A Lion has some sound design issues. It is entirely possible that this was due to the screener I received, and will not be present in the actual movie, however there are far too many times that a conversation is hard to hear because of the background noise. There were several times I had to go back and lean in close to my speaker to hear what was being said.
All of these issues make this movie feel a lot longer than it is. Coming in at a brink 87 minutes should mean that it flies by, and this just isn’t the case. At times, it is a struggle to keep going.
That being said, One Day As A Lion has its good moments, too. J.K. Simmons shines whenever he is on screen. Even though the timeline for Lola and Jackie’s relationship feels extremely unrealistic, Marianne Rendón and Scott Caan are a joy to watch together. They breath a little bit of life and excitement into the movie and have great onscreen chemistry.
Overall Thoughts
One Day As A Lion isn’t all bad. There are some parts that made me chuckle (I unapologetically laugh whenever I hear the “c” word). The issue is that for such a short movie, it drags on way too long. There is a whole lot going on here, and not enough of it comes together in the end.
J.K. Simmons is by far the best part of the film, but his scenes are too few and far between for him to save this one. Still, there will be an audience for this one that will be perfectly content sitting on their couch and watching One Day As A Lion to pass the time.
There are too many story lines and plot points happening at once, and they never come together in a way that works. This movie has its moments, but overall is a struggle to get through. A shame, because it had potential.
Rating: 2 out of 5
NEXT: Paint Review: Owen Wilson Brings His A Game
About One Day As A Lion
Jackie Powers (Scott Caan) is a nice guy but a lousy hit man, and when he’s sent to take out a crafty debtor (J.K. Simmons), Jackie only pisses him off. Fleeing the scene, Jackie takes bored waitress Lola as a hostage. When Jackie reveals he needs money to get his son out of jail, Lola cooks up a scheme for them to get cash from her dying mother (Virginia Madsen).
Meanwhile, a thug sent to kill him is sleeping with Jackie’s ex. Also starring Frank Grillo, this crime-comedy is a witty homage to Tarantino and the Coen brothers.
