STARRING: Ryan Phillippe, Benicio Del Toro, Juliette Lewis, Taye Diggs and James Caan

Before I start my review, I must take a moment to address all my Canadian readers:

I like to eat crow with mashed potatoes and fresh asparagus.

In my review of "The Art of War," I stated that Canadians aren’t capable of making good action movies. I sent a call out into the void for a Canadian director to rival the talents of action movie guru James Cameron. Who knew Cameron was Canadian?

Yes, a simple trip to the IMDB would have saved me a lot of embarrassment, but I was in a hurry to finish my assignment and catch a flight to Las Vegas for a quick vacation. I have paid for my carelessness. Special thanks to the endless number of Canadians who caught my goof and e-mailed me. You are indeed a proud people possessed with an intense national loyalty.

I stand corrected. There is at least one Canadian that can make decent action movies. Canada, please forgive me. I hope your citizens stay tuned to my reviews despite my flaws. Even so, "The Art of War" is still a sucky film. It’s just not Canada’s fault.

Just so you know, this doesn’t let you guys off the hook for Anne Murray, Mike Meyers or Celine Dion.

Now, onto the next . . .

"The Way of the Gun" is the directorial debut of Christopher McQuarrie, the Oscar-winning scribe of "The Usual Suspects." Have you noticed that almost every screenwriter in Hollywood wants to be a director nowadays? Maybe it’s because they’re tired of their vision being comprised or maybe they just want all the glory for themselves. Whatever the reason, it seems that once a writer gets a little acclaim, it’s not too long before they start spouting a phrase that’s as common in Hollywood as "Let’s do lunch":

What I really want to do is direct.

So now it’s McQuarrie’s turn behind the camera and he’s created a contemporary western with some strong performances, good dialogue and a lot of gunplay. It’s also a movie that’s a bit too long, breaks little new ground, and stars Ryan Phillippe ("Cruel Intentions").

Katt and Diggs perform admirably even if the director gives them little to do. He restrains these charismatic actors in roles as stoic hired guns.

In case you couldn’t tell, I’m not a huge fan of Reese Witherspoon’s husband. His performances rarely have much depth and he often relies more on his looks than any real ability. Let’s face it, the guy’s outclassed even when he’s appearing in teen schlock like "I Know What You Did Last Summer." That said, Phillippe probably does the best work of his career in "The Way of the Gun." Unfortunately, his best isn’t good enough.

As hard as he tries, Phillippe is completely miscast as Parker, an unrepentant, gunslinging wanderer. The golden boy looks just don’t work for the character. He spouts gritty dialogue, but looks like he’s on his way to the Galleria to grab a new pair of Gap khakis. If Phillippe is a bad choice, Benicio Del Toro ("The Usual Suspects") is right on the money as his partner. This guy at least looks like he’s lived a life worthy of his cynical lines.

After surviving being stuck in middling crap like "Excess Baggage," Del Toro finally gets a chance to shine as the laconic gunman Longbaugh. Every time Phillippe drops the ball, Del Toro is there to pick it up and run. He’s at his best when playing off James Caan ("Misery"), who stars as an aging henchman pursuing the two gunmen. Del Toro and Caan hit a nice rhythm in their scenes together, playing two sides of the same coin. If the director had cast Caan as Parker, we’d be watching a much more engaging film.

McQuarrie is trying to make a darkly funny, violent movie along the lines of Quentin Tarantino’s "Reservoir Dogs." There are moments in this flick when he succeeds, but mainly you’re just aware that he’s riding Tarantino’s coattails. Since Q-Dog is far from an original (he owes too great a debt to Scorsese and Peckinpah among others), McQuarrie comes off like a second-generation photocopy.

Phillippe is completely miscast as Parker. He spouts gritty dialogue, but looks like he's on his way to the Galleria to grab a new pair of Gap khakis.

However, the director gets enough things right to hold your interest — at least for the first half of the film anyway. He has a sly sense of humor that comes through in the movie’s most winning moments. For example, he named his leads Parker and Longbaugh after the real-life names of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It’s a fun aside to another pair of cinematic outlaws, even if McQuarrie’s boys don’t possess the charm of those earlier characters.

He also scores major points with the movie’s opening scenes. These early minutes resonate with black comedy. The film’s gunfights stand out as well. They are all well-choreographed, usually beginning with a standoff that slowly escalates into a bloodbath. These scenes are fun to watch, but some of them seem to be in the movie just because the director thought they’d look cool.

Overall, the story is nothing new. Phillippe and Del Toro play wisecracking losers that hatch a plan that quickly goes awry. They kidnap the very pregnant surrogate mom (Juliette Lewis from "Natural Born Killers") of a rich couple not realizing that the husband (Scott Wilson from "G.I. Jane") is laundering money for the mob. Since he can’t pay the ransom without it being traced back to his associates, he sends his toadies (Caan, Taye Diggs from "Go" and Nicky Katt from "The Limey") after our antiheroes. Much bloodshed ensues.

Every time Phillippe drops the ball, Del Toro is there to pick it up and run. He really shines in this role.

The Southwestern landscapes add a little variety, but the film closely resembles several other "heist gone wrong" flicks that have been released in the wake of "Reservoir Dogs." The cast — with the exception of Phillippe — helps elevate the movie above many of its peers. In addition to Del Toro and Caan, Diggs and Katt perform admirably even if McQuarrie gives them little to do. The director doesn’t take full advantage of these two actors. He hinders their natural charisma in stoic roles as hired guns.

McQuarrie is an inconsistent talent in his first directorial effort. He botches almost as many scenes as he saves. While some dialogue crackles with energy, other lines are flat and derivative. He guides Del Toro and Caan to riveting performances but restrains Diggs and Katt. And who knows what he was thinking when he cast Phillippe. Maybe McQuarrie had too much peyote while he was out scouting locations in the desert.

"The Way of the Gun" is an uneven film that doesn’t fulfill the promise of its beginning. A slow third act also really bogs things down. You cheer the inevitable final showdown just because it signals that the movie is almost over. While it’s not a terrible film, "The Way of the Gun" is far from exceptional. I suggest McQuarrie not quit his day job just yet.