Killing Them Softly

Jackie Cogan is an enforcer hired to restore order after three dumb guys rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse.

Critics were reasonably enthusiastic about Andrew Dominik's crime film as a stylish, politically charged allegory on American capitalism, but audiences were far less convinced — it earned a rare failing grade from general viewers. The central split among critics was whether the heavy-handed economic commentary and deliberately bleak atmosphere constituted purposeful filmmaking or simply joyless punishment.