Film Review: The Opportunists (1999)

Making enough money for the bare essentials of life is a task which is nowadays getting increasingly difficult for large sections of people. Certain people were in such predicament before, especially when burdened with certain wrong choices in the past, like the protagonist of The Opportunists, 1999 crime drama written and directed by Myles Connell. Victor “Vic” Kelly (played by Christopher Walken) used to be a professional safe cracker, but after spending years in prison he decided to end his life of crime and try to make money through honest means. Nowadays he runs a car mechanic shop but the business is struggling, making him unable to financially support his adult daughter Miriam (played by Vera Farmiga) or pay bills for nursing home which cares for senile aunt Dee (played by Anne Pitoniak). Things are getting even worse after his relative Michael Lawlor (played by Peter McDonald) arrives from Ireland and asks him to give him temporary accommodation. In such situation, his neighbour Pat Duffy (played by Donal Logue) offers solution that would require Vic to use his safe cracking talents once more. Pat works as security guard and wants to rob his employers. Vic is quite reluctant to accept, especially after his girlfriend Sally Mahon (played by Cindy Lauper), owner of small bar, tries to dissuade him from returning to criminal path. Things get further complicated when Michael gets close to Miriam and begins talking about his own criminal career in Ireland.

The Opportunists is a low budget independent film that became obscure despite more than decent reviews and couple of festival award nominations. It would have been even more obscure if not for the presence of Christopher Walken in starring role. An actor who has built his reputation on intense performances and playing larger-than-life character here plays surprisingly normal and subdued person. Walken nevertheless does more than solid job and same can be said of Cyndi Lauper, pop singer who here admirably atones herself for taking part in atrocious Vibes a decade earlier. Their efforts are well-matched with the skilful direction of Myles Connell who makes his film interesting despite putting less emphasis on plot and more on character study. The Opportunists provides insight into American working class milieu and ordinary lives of people that inhabit it, which is usually ignored by mainstream Hollywood. However, after a while cliches begin to creep in and the predictable happy ending is going to be somewhat too neat for more demanding audience. Walken’s great performance and good direction are, on the other hand, reasons enough for The Opportunists to be recommended as more than solid piece of cinema.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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