Quentin Tarantino’s first two films, “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction,” had a galvanic effect not just on American independent film but movies the world over. From 1995 on, you couldn’t go to a film festival without tripping over several “Dogs” or “Pulp” impersonations, none of them a patch on the real thing. To be fair, one or two of the perpetrators of such items, Joe Carnahan to name a noteworthy example, grew into makers of more distinctive and enjoyable work. But the counterfeiters were, and mostly remained, a drag.
“Stealing Pulp Fiction” is an overt Tarantino homage. Written and directed by Danny Turkiewicz, it concerns a few Tarantino-obsessed cinephiles who believe they can make a fortune by kidnapping the director’s personal print of his film and holding it for ransom. A witless duo, played by Jon Rudnitsky and Karan Soni, enlist a snarky female pal who objects to Tarantino on misogyny and thievery grounds; they also reel in the therapist of Rudnitsky’s character. These two are played by Cazzie David and Jason Alexander, but their high-octane comedic talents elevate the proceedings not a whit.
Said proceedings eventually involve Tarantino himself, played by a gentleman named Seager Tennis, who, to paraphrase James Thurber, looks as much like Quentin Tarantino as Calvin Coolidge does the MGM lion.
Turkiewicz apes Tarantino’s great film by giving chapter titles to its sections and setting multiple scenes in a diner. These sequences don’t resemble “Pulp Fiction” so much as they do television ads for Chili’s — a locale where you’ll have a better time than watching this utterly misbegotten movie.
Stealing Pulp Fiction
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 18 minutes. In theaters.
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