Boxing, diamonds, pigs and Mr. Pitt

Kara Hodge - Entertainment Beat

A diamond heist gone mad, the rough world of bare knuckle boxing, a colorful Irish gypsy and ... a dog. Combine those elements and you've got "Snatch," the new movie by writer-director Guy Ritchie.

"Snatch" consists of a bunch of blokes (that's British for guys) with colorful nicknames and a plot that makes you feel like you're stuck inside a pinball machine.

Consistent with Ritchie's first film "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells," "Snatch" is a roller-coaster ride into the crazy world of East London's diamond dealers, underground mobsters and gypsy camps.

The plot assembles its gangsters in overlapping stories involving crooked boxing, stolen diamonds and a pig farm. After Frankie Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro) steals a diamond in Antwerp, Belgium, and returns to London, a Russian named Boris the Blade (Rade Sherbedgia) and an American gangster named Cousin Avi (Dennis Farina) try to separate him from it -- which isn't easy, since it's in a case handcuffed to Frankie's wrist.

Meanwhile, a boxer named Gorgeous George is knocked flat, and two shady promoters Turkisk, played by Jason Staham as the film's narrator, and Tommy (Stephen Graham) find themselves in hock to underground mobster and boxing promoter Brick Top (Alan Ford).

Desperate to find a winner, they recruit gypsy Mickey O'Neil (Brad Pitt), who is a fierce, bare-knuckled fighter with a mean right hook that London gamblers won't recognize.

The other characters in the movie, a couple of thick-skulled pawn brokers and crooks Vinny (Robbie Gee) and Sol (Lennie James) get involved in the mix, picking up a toy-swallowing dog and a few dead bodies.

Their friend Tyrone (Ade) serves as their "getaway driver," but seeing that heÕs so overweight it takes him close to a minute to get out of his car, he doesnÕt serve his purpose.

The good stuff: Pitt's character and the trailer park trash community where he lives are the most intriguing parts of the movie. Pitt's character speaks in slurred Irish that can only be properly understood by his gypsy cohorts. (He sounds like heÕs trying to dislodge a piece of chewing gum from his teeth.)

Eastenders Doug the Head and Bullet Tooth Tony both derive some chuckles from their roles and Staham and Graham are hilarious as the odd couple. Ford, who plays a mean psychopath, is scary and convincing with his cohorts, mangled teeth and threats of feeding his enemies to his prized pig farm.

The not-so-good-stuff: Plot and character are secondary to the physical activity of the movie, making "Snatch" almost mindless. The editing is dizzying -- there is an endless use of off-kilter camera angles, which isn't bad, but the jagged hops from scene to scene get tiresome after the first 15 minutes of the film. The movie's action scenes are outrageous and violent, but "Snatch" doesn't build and it doesn't arrive anywhere.

Ritchie is a better director than writer. He should have taken some tips from new wife Madonna -- the Queen of Reinvention. "Snatch" is essentially a remake of the same old song "Lock and Stock."

The saving grace of the movie is that it's loud, funny and horrifying at the same time.

For more information about "Snatch" check out the official Web site at www.spe.sony.com/movies/snatch.