Suicide Kings is a 1997 American crime thriller black comedy film directed by Peter O'Fallon, and starring Christopher Walken, Denis Leary, Sean Patrick Flanery, Johnny Galecki, Jay Mohr, Jeremy Sisto and Henry Thomas.
Based on Don Stanford's short story The Hostage, the film follows the group of students who kidnap a respected former Mafia figure.
Another young man, who is friends with Avery and Max, Brett, joins them shortly after Charlie sits down and begins chatting with them.
However, he shows he has a soft side as one of the people he beats up is the father of Jennifer, the hostess at the restaurant that Charlie and the boys frequent.
During the course of these conversations, Charlie unnerves the friends with stories of his early years as a gangster, especially concerning some former neighbors of his that he had had killed and then fed their remains to their Dobermans.
They then discover that Elise is indeed not being held with the thugs and Lono remarks that the suitcase doesn't feel heavy/full enough (implying that some cash may be missing).
In the other ending, Charlie allows them to live, but takes his money, after which Lono shoots holes in the boat, causing it to slowly sink.
However, test audiences didn't like these endings as much, feeling that Max and Elise needed to pay for the betrayal of their friends and grief they had caused.
[5] Joe Leydon of Variety wrote, "With a nod toward Quentin Tarantino and an appreciative wink at Lyle Kessler's Orphans, Suicide Kings is a smart and snappy drama tinged with dark humor and brimming with self-confidence.
"[6] James Berardinelli of ReelViews wrote "while the narrative is a little too erratic to ascend to the Pulp Fiction level, the tone and style are on target.
For those who aren't offended by extreme profanity and violence, Suicide Kings offers a kinetic and surprisingly funny two hours.
[3] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly rated it C− and called it "another imitation of early Quentin Tarantino",[10] as did Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert on their show.