If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie should be feeling pretty flattered by Smokin' Aces. Writer-director Joe Carnahan (2002's Narc) has obviously studied the past works of these filmmakers well, and matches them every step of the way in terms of visuals and juggling multiple crime plots. Unfortunately, this is a case of the artist knowing the music but not the lyrics. The movie is not as clever as it seems to think it is, and is also brought down by some thinly developed characters who certainly seem interesting, but never reach their full potential aside from a few stand outs. Though certainly energetic and never boring, Smokin' Aces adds up to less than the sum of its parts.

The action is set in and around a Lake Tahoe hotel and casino where famous Las Vegas magician showman Buddy "Aces" Israel (Jeremy Piven) has holed himself up in the hotel penthouse after agreeing to drop some names to the Feds about his Mob connections, including ailing mob boss Primo Sparazza (Joseph Ruskin). A $1 million contract is put on Buddy's head, and as soon as word gets out, every hitman and bizarre low life swarm to the hotel in order to claim their bounty. The long list of people gunning for Buddy's life include a bail bondsman named Jack (Ben Affleck), female assassin duo Georgia and Sharice (singer Alicia Keys and Taraji P. Henson), ex-cop "Pistol" Pete Deeks (Peter Berg), a deranged man who specializes in torture techniques (Nestor Carbonell), a master of disguise named Lazlo (Tommy Flanagan), and a trio of chainsaw-wielding brothers who look like they stepped out of a Road Warrior remake (Chris Pine, Kevin Durand, and Maury Sterling). Also headed for the hotel are FBI agents Richard (Ryan Reynolds) and Donald (Ray Liota), who are trying to get to Buddy before the hired hitmen do.

Even though Smokin' Aces is heavily inspired by the clever crime sagas of Tarantino and Ritchie, it winds up more closely resembling last year's Bobby, the movie that covered a large group of guests staying at the hotel the night Robert Kennedy was shot. Just like that film, the movie piles on so many characters that it is constantly in danger of becoming top heavy and collapsing on itself. Bobby managed to mostly stay afloat due to some interesting and well-written characters. The characters and the dialogue in Smokin' Aces just is not enough to grab our attention. Most of the characters are so thinly written that they may as well not even be there. They come across as sketchy caricatures instead of fully developed characters, and never come across as anything resembling three dimensional. This is not so bad for most of the movie, which is an over the top violent darkly comic crime fable. It is during this part of the film that is the most fun, and director Carnahan does a good job of handling the chaos that literally explodes up there on the screen. But then, during the film's final moments, the movie suddenly takes a deadly serious and almost somber tone that does not gel with the rest of the movie. This is when the weak characterizations comes back to haunt the movie. The characters are not developed strong enough to deserve such a serious and thoughtful ending, and it winds up lacking to connect emotionally with us. If the movie had kept its chaotic and fast-paced action tone throughout, I probably would have been able to overlook the uninteresting characters. I certainly think that if the filmmakers wanted the ending to work, they should have tried to get us more emotionally involved sooner.

One thing I certainly can't accuse Smokin' Aces of is being boring, however. The movie has an "everything but the kitchen sink" approach that works for most of its running time. The action sequences and shoot outs are frantic, but never confusing or overbearing. They have the right amount of energy to keep our interest. I also admired the film's twisted sense of humor, such as a scene where a man has a conversation with a freshly-killed corpse, moving the victim's mouth up and down and providing his "voice" in the conversation. There is also a subplot concerning a man (played by Jason Bateman) who survives an attack by one of the hitmen gathering at the hotel, and finds himself in the care of a strange old lady and her karate-obsessed hyperactive grandson that is very bizarre, but generates a couple good laughs. The main heart of the story moves with the pace of a speeding train, never slowing down for an instant until the last body has hit the ground. The only thing that holds it back is that the dialogue lacks the spark of the masters like Tarantino. It's never quite as clever as it seems to think it is, and it never manages to stand out as much as I think it was intended to. A lot of this has to do with the underdeveloped characters, who are more like violent cartoon characters come to life instead of real people. It also has to do with the fact that Carnahan's screenplay seems more interested in keeping the action moving than in dialogue. As enjoyable as the action can be, there is still a wall between us and the characters, and we never become as involved as we're supposed to be.

Even if the characters are largely forgettable, that doesn't mean there aren't any performances that manage to rise above the material. The big surprise is Ryan Reynolds, as one of the two FBI agents who is trying to get to Buddy in time. I have never been a huge fan of Reynolds' past work, but here, he is actually quite wonderful in his role as one of the few semi-moral characters to walk into the film. His character probably gets the closest thing resembling development in this movie, so he eventually becomes the slightest form of emotional center to carry the movie. He is rugged, yet sympathetic, in his performance and stands out in every scene he's in. Also of note is Jeremy Piven as the snitch that everyone's looking for. He does a good job of portraying Buddy's slow descent into depression and near-madness as the situation spirals out of control. The rest of the cast mainly disappear into the background, or exist simply to die in spectacular ways. Ben Affleck makes a surprisingly good crooked character in the closest thing he's had to a villain role, but his character isn't developed enough to create much of a lasting impression. The only actors who are stuck with underwritten characters, but still manage to rise above it, are Alicia Keys and Taraji P. Henson as the female assassins. They are both likeable and spirited in their performances, able to make the characters more memorable than they probably appeared to be on the written page.
There's nothing exactly wrong with the story or the ideas behind Smokin' Aces. Heck, there's really nothing wrong with the way the film has been shot and edited, or the performances. Despite how well everything seems, nothing seems to come together to make a complete and satisfying film. We can see flashes of good performances and high energy action sequences, but the screenplay and the sketchy characters betray everything that is good about the film. It never hits on the deeper level that its ending seems to want to hit, and that brings down what could have been a highly enjoyable dark comedy caper. I give Carnahan credit for trying. He certainly has the talent and the energy to spare. Now all he needs to do is figure out how to bring his ideas together in a more satisfying way. If he can accomplish that, I think the guy will be on to something.

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