What I Think About Movies I've Seen

Tonight, I attended a free screening of this movie, hosted by the Austin Film Festival. Steve Buscemi plays John Alighieri, a compulsive gambler who used to live in Las Vegas but has since moved to Albuquerque after his luck ran out, although he still plays the lottery far more than he should. He's working accepting claims for an insurance company, and when he goes to his boss (Peter Dinklage) to ask for a raise, he is instead invited to ride along with Virgil (Romany Malco) to investigate a suspected case of insurance fraud in Las Vegas. He's resistant at first, but he needs the money so he goes along.

The story is loosely based on Dante's Inferno, and there are subtle and not-so-subtle references to it throughout. Although it's not action-packed, it moves along at a pretty good pace and it was over before I knew it. It's got a pretty impressive cast (also including Sarah Silverman, John Cho, Danny Trejo, Tim Blake Nelson, and Emmanuelle Chriqui), and it was well acted. My only real complaint is that the 85-minute runtime went by so quickly that it left me wanting more.