There’s a scene in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America that takes place at a beach resort just as the Volstead Act – otherwise known as prohibition – is repealed. The majority of the vacationers are elated by the news and begin dancing, but two stand out. “We’re unemployed,” Noodles tells his friend Max as he reluctantly takes in the news. These men (played by Robert De Niro and James Woods) are, of course, bootleggers, and the only way they get paid is to transport illegal liquor. Their conundrum begs the question: What is a purveyor of illicit substances to do when those substances are no longer illicit?
Fast forward eighty-some-odd years, and Johnathan Salemi’s The Last Deal asks the same questions, only this time it’s marijuana’s legal status on the line, and instead of DeNiro or Woods, we have Anthony Molinari. I don’t want to judge The Last Deal too harshly, as there are some worthwhile elements, but when everything is boiled down to its basic parts, there isn’t much left but a late-’80s made-for-cable crime thriller. And to tell you the truth, I’m mostly okay with that. I can’t tell you how many of those things I watched growing up, even if I can’t remember the name of a single one. The Last Deal may not be the cream of the crop when it comes to these types of genre films, but it does press my nostalgia button, so I guess that’s something.
As Vincent – the pot grower and distributor who’s about to be put out of business by legal weed dispensaries – Molinari is easily the best part of the film. He’s just smarmy enough for us to believe he’d get in bed with gangsters for “one last score,” but likable enough to root for him when things inevitably go sideways. Molinari hits the mark as a slicked-over yet well-intentioned hayseed who’s in over his head, but also one who’s smart enough to know he has to make a change in his life lest he lose everything important to him. His Vincent isn’t greedy or stupid, but he’s navigating a side of the business he’s never been comfortable with, and he’s not very good at it. Watching a constantly exasperated Molinari wade these waters might be enough for a recommendation all on its own, if it weren’t outweighed by The Last Deal’s downsides.
As fun as Molinari is, the rest of the cast is a mishmash of overplayed tropes and genre stereotypes. I have no basis for comparison when it comes to real-life crime syndicate bosses and their muscle-headed goons, but I can’t imagine any self-respecting criminal would carry themselves with such cartoonish villainy as is on display in The Last Deal. These lazily written characterizations were already played out by the time Miami Vice went off the air in 1989, yet without fail (and despite budgets), they keep popping up anytime a director needs a character an audience can easily identify as a “bad guy.” It’s too bad, too, because with a bit of effort and nuance, The Last Deal could have been a unique and passable crime thriller.
James is a writer, skateboarder, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.