Despite its title sounding dangerously like a kids’ movie, “Eenie Meanie” is a bloody heist film that brims with cheap thrills and tawdry action. The story follows Edie (Samara Weaving), a former foster youth who spent her teenage years as a getaway driver for a Cleveland crime boss.
Scrappy and world-weary, Edie is trying to start a new life, having renounced her delinquent past to study economics at a community college. But just when she thought she was out of the game, the plot pulls her back in.
Soon into the film, Edie learns that her unruly ex-boyfriend, John (Karl Glusman), is indebted to a local kingpin, Nico (Andy Garcia), by several million dollars. In order to save his life, Edie must take on a final heist hinging on a casino and a luxury car packed with $3 million in winnings.
The writer-director Shawn Simmons parks “Eenie Meanie” squarely in genre-movie territory. There are clunky, exposition-heavy exchanges, far-fetched narrative beats and countless car chases, including one that inexplicably culminates on a race track. And while an early, silly death involving the comedian Randall Park suggests an exuberant self-awareness a la Quentin Tarantino, other scenes, like those that position Edie and John as star-crossed lovers, indicate that this movie’s melodrama takes itself deadly seriously. But it’s hard for the audience to do so in a story that asks us to not merely suspend disbelief, but slaughter it.
Eenie Meanie
Rated R for violence and language in overdrive. Running time: 1 hour 46 minutes. Watch on Hulu.
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