It's funny and violent and fast and, er, Danish.

Mostly, it exults in its inspired potential rather than any brilliant results.

A bleak male-bonding comedy that's a queasy blend of brutal humor and escalating sentimentality, it is overlong, heavy-handed, slow and unpersuasive.

Since the ultimate direction of the gangster plot is obvious from the beginning, the filmmaker is counting on the freshness and unpredictability of such moments to keep us engaged -- a gamble that pays off only modestly.