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Now, the “crazy guy ruins everything” trope has been a staple of crime movies since the beginning of time, so I suppose it’s a valid criticism to peg this as lazy writing. It depends, as I say often, on your level of tolerance. Like most genres of film, there are certain tropes and tricks of the trade we’ve all come to expect, and if used properly they serve as a springboard to the real point of the story. That’s pretty much the case here, and it’s when The Man becomes aware of the botched operation that the real story begins, as he more or less issues a fatwa against Jimmy and his crew: Get the hell out of Denver and never come back, or prepare to meet your maker.

To emphasize the point, The Man dispatches Mr. Shh (Steve Buscemi), a visually unassuming but ruthlessly violent hit man whose methods and demeanor are such that I really need to see a buddy comedy crossover with him and the Kung Fu Priest from Dead Alive.

Like I said before, the botched job serves as the setup for the real theme of the film, which is regret. It falls to each member of Jimmy’s entourage to decide whether they will stay in Denver and face the consequences of their life choices, or run away. Each makes his own choice for his own reasons, but Jimmy in particular clearly regrets never fully turning his life around. Falling in love, having a family and being a good father seem to be important to him, and he begins to explore these things with a disarming girl he meets at a bar (Gabrielle Anwar) and a wayward prostitute named Lucinda (Fairuza Balk).

Like many a crime story protagonist, Jimmy seems like the one guy in the film who might have made something of himself, if only he’d turned left instead of right, and that serves as the emotional center of the movie. In fact, the film is periodically broken up by clips from his Afterlife Advice clients, as they opine on issues that happen to be pertinent to the developing story. It’s somewhat effective, and I’d even go so far as to call it poignant if the film in general weren’t so full of winking self-awareness. Things to do in Denver knows it’s a mob movie, it knows that it’s following a formula, and most of the characters seem like they’re in on it.

That’s not a bad thing, but it leads to an uncomfortably uneven tone at times. It’s not quite enough to take you out of the story, but it’s sufficient to alter the experience, like an old car that only rattles when it’s in motion, making it impossible to pinpoint the problem. Behind the camera, Gary Fleder (Kiss the Girls, Homefront) does a workmanlike job of letting the film more or less direct itself. With a strong cast and an uncomplicated story, the story more or less runs entirely on cruise control. Scott Rosenberg (Con Air, High Fidelity) turns in a decent, paint-by-numbers script that’s a little too in love with its own dialogue. The characters in this story speak in stylized colloquialisms that require a fair amount of explanation, and are occasionally overused to the point of distraction.

But I suppose these are slightly petty concerns. This is a decent movie with a delightful cast (Don Cheadle and Tiny Lister appear small roles) of professionals who manage to elevate the production from a C minus to a solid B. Maybe I’m being a bit of a homer, since I happen to dearly love most of the actors in this movie, and I’m kind of partial to crime stories - so much so that I am willing to excuse the fact that the plot contains as many intimately familiar landmarks as the setting. Despite the fact that this is probably a somewhat mediocre film, it’s always been a pleasant experience for me, and I never regret watching it when I do. It fits me like an old pair of gloves. And although there really is no significant mob activity in Denver, if there were, I’d be okay with it as long as Christopher Walken was the man with the plan.

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