"2 Days in the Valley" feels like one of those '90s movies that walks in the footsteps of "Pulp Fiction" (cosmic coincidences, lives interweaving, all happening in L.A.) . . . "Go" has also been compared to Tarantino's movie, but that was at least darkly comic about it."Valley" never reaches the heights of those movies, even with such a large cast and an advertised catfight between Teri Hatcher and Charlize Theron. It's not funny and there's never really a payoff. Characters learn lessons about life, but that's where the movie gets syrupy. It's like a fantasyland version of Southern California.But a dull fantasy.5/10

2 days in the Valley tries to go for the Quentin Tarantino dollar with a crime story with interlinked characters that starts off with a murder in the LA valley.James Spader is the smart and ruthless assassin. It is hard to think that he is the old, balding man from The Blacklist. His accomplice is Charlize Theron in an early role looking blond and hot and she has a memorable tiff with Teri Hatcher who is a one time Olympian whose ex has been murdered.Jeff Daniels plays a racist detective who is trying to get Eric Stoltz to bust Chinese massage parlours. Danny Aiello plays a fall guy, Paul Mazursky is an over the hill filmmaker fallen on hard times.The film needed a more darkly comic edge but it works sufficiently well enough as a thriller with some twists, despicable villains and a few people with heart even if they are on the wrong side of the law.

Despite a jumbled plot and some throw away performances, "2 Days in the Valley" will keep first-time viewers involved if just for watching actors who wouldn't normally be in this kind of movie. The main problem is that writer and director John Herzfeld's career has been mainly concentrated on the small screen---and it shows. But that's not a total negative because he does have a gift for moving along a story. In "2 Days..." he certainly keeps the action and dialog flowing at a crisp rate. Unfortunately, the film tries to be both a tongue-in-cheek action film and a Black Comedy and wavers uncomfortably between the two genres.The plot revolves around a murder-for-hire to collect some life insurance money with James Spader playing the hit-man and Charlize Theron as his sexy accomplice. A naive (but beautiful) Teri Hatcher unwittingly aids and abets their plan and ends up the worst for it. Jeff Daniels steals the show as a disgruntled LA cop on the edge of losing his sanity while putting his young partner (Eric Stoltz) through the ringer. Glenne Headley and Marsha Mason, two fine and distinguished actresses, seem a bit lost in this film and neither of them have enough screen time to make a real impression. Danny Aiello and Paul Mazursky are also in the cast and both of them have worked with far better and more cohesive scripts. Louise Fletcher and Keith Carradine have all too brief cameo appearances and neither of them make much of a dent in the proceedings. Carradine is killed off so fast that he might not have collected a paycheck for his efforts. "2 Days in the Valley" will remind viewers a little bit of another film that tried to be too much; the 1985 John Landis film "Into the Night." Similar to that movie, "2 Days..." strays too far from a coherent story line and drifts off into too many directions at once. It won't ruin your evening, but it won't make it any better either.

Only in Los Angeles,art there for sure-but for an enjoyable movie-come on! The dialogue uses f*** as a noun,verb,adjective & adverb in every scene with the characters as about as tasteless & bizarre as the attempted depiction of crime comedy. Worth seeing to get an understanding of how 'bad' current avant guard is? Rating should be "UW" - unwatchable. and best filed under 'junk mail' But- all types for all folk- See it and decide if this review and the reviewer 'need help'? The Producer/Director certainly do! Like so many 'Pulp Fiction'movies this was just one more attempt to open eyes to someones idea of reality in the Valley- Maybe,but surely even great art show be at least stimulating and give rise to one wondering - too much? In this day of information overload the movie is surely another piece or movie to be classed as junk mail at its prime?Chaque a son gout,but to have this shown as cinema in the most educated liberal sense is a reflection on how we are sinking, cinema should be able to be entertaining,this offering is flattered by a description of tastelessness at its finest.As for using 'comedy' even 'sick comedy' is stretching the English language beyond all meaning