''Kounterfeit'' is a 1996 American

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

starring

Bruce Payne Bruce Martyn Payne (born 22 November 1958) is an English actor, producer, screenwriter, film director and theatre director. Payne is best known for portraying villains, such as Charles Rane in ''Passenger 57'', Jacob Kell in '' Highlander: End ...

and Hilary Swank. ''Kounterfeit'' was

directed Direct may refer to: Mathematics * Directed set, in order theory * Direct limit of (pre), sheaves * Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces Computing * Direct access (disambiguation), a ...

by John Mallory Asher and

written Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...

David Chase David Henry Chase (born August 22, 1945) is an American writer, producer, and director. He is best known for being the creator, head writer, and executive producer of the HBO drama ''The Sopranos'', which aired for six seasons between 1999 and 2 ...

, Katherine Fugate and Jay Irwin.

Plot summary

A counterfeiter of money is attacked by two masked men and threatened to reveal where a certain amount of counterfeit money is. The counterfeiter pleads ignorance and is subsequently killed. Tommy 'Hopscotch' Hopkins, who has the money, learns of the death of the counterfeiter and begins to fear for his own safety. Consequently, he asks his friend, the street smart and "seasoned former criminal" Frankie (who owns a strip club), to assist him in an exchange of the fake money for real money which he has organised with some acquaintances. Frankie reluctantly agrees to assist his friend. During the exchange, an undercover police officer, Danny, is killed in a shootout. The shootout is witnessed by Danny's sister Colleen, who was hiding in the house. Distraught, she mistakenly believes that Frankie killed her brother. Colleen becomes frustrated with her ex-boyfriend, Vic, whose investigation into Danny's murder proceeds slowly, and decides to undertake her own investigation.

Main cast

* Hilary Swank as Colleen *

as Frankie *

Corbin Bernsen Corbin Dean Bernsen (born September 7, 1954) is an American actor and film director. He appeared as divorce attorney Arnold Becker on the NBC drama series ''L.A. Law'',

as Marty Hopkins *

Mark-Paul Gosselaar Mark-Paul Harry Gosselaar (; born March 1, 1974) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Zack Morris in the NBC series ''Saved by the Bell'' and both its sequel series, '' Saved by the Bell: The College Years'' and the 2020 Peacock o ...

as Paco/Danny * Gil Bernardy as Counterfeiter * Andrew Hawkes as Tommy 'Hopscotch' Hopkins * Michael Gross as Captain Evans * Rob Stewart as Vic *

Elizabeth Gracen Elizabeth Ward Gracen (born Elizabeth Grace Ward, April 3, 1961) is an American actress and beauty pageant contestant who won the title of Miss America in 1982. Early life and education Elizabeth Grace Ward was born on April 3, 1961, in Oz ...

as Bridgette * Ben Foster as Travis * Doug McKeon as Patron * Jay Irwin as Contact 1 * Brad James as Contact 2 Bruce Payne and Elizabeth Gracen both played Immortals in the popular Highlander franchise.

Reception

The TV Guide website has given the film a rating of 2.5 out of 4. A reviewer for the ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' stated that 'Frankie's slablike features and seedy-cool demeanor initially makes him just one outsized thug among many, but Payne gradually warms up the protagonist and balances nicely against Hawkes's scenery-chewing

Joe Pesci Joseph Frank Pesci ( , ; born February 9, 1943) is an American actor and musician. He is best known for portraying tough, volatile characters, in a variety of genres, and for his collaborations with his best friend, Robert De Niro in the films ' ...

act'. Matt Spector stated that the film 'is enjoyable with enough action scenes and twists and turns to keep the audience interested'. A different reviewer stated that 'the ungainly script is low on both ideas and excitement'. Mick Martin and Marsha Porter described the film as a 'mildly diverting tale of two low life hoods'. Dragan Antulov stated that 'the plot recycles many obligatory elements of low budget crime movies (vengeance as the prime motive for one of the protagonist, good guys who don't turn out so good at the end) and combines them with Tarantinoesque portrayal of small time criminals as protagonists'. VPRO Cinema awarded the film 3 out of 5 stars. A reviewer for ''

Film Review Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: Academic criticism by film scholars, who study the composition of film theory and publish their findin ...

'' stated that ' Payne oozes charisma in a film which delivers plenty of cheap thrills but few surprises'. Edmond Grant stated that the film's 'involved skullduggery holds few surprises in the end'. Joe Corey stated that the film 'seems like a cheap ''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs, Ricardo "Rico" Tub ...

'' knock-off minus the golden talents of Philip Michael Thomas'. Nonetheless, Corey praised the acting of Hilary Swank, stating that she 'is the reason this film deserves to be seen' as 'she does her best to give life to a character that barely reads on the page' and 'seems very calm dealing with a script that over twists itself with the subterfuge'.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0113037, title=Kounterfeit 1996 crime thriller films 1996 films American crime thriller films Films about counterfeit money 1990s English-language films 1990s American films Direct-to-video crime films English-language crime thriller films