After previewing this movie, I can't imagine why Dustin Hoffman allowed it to be distributed. If I were he, I would have paid to keep anyone from seeing it. This is the only movie I have ever walked out of before the end. I wouldn't mind a movie that has little action or special effects, but I do prefer one that has a script. My friend and I both love Hoffman and Franz, but the dialogue was not that good and the movie was going nowhere. After twenty or so minutes of incredibly boring conversation,we looked at each other, stood up, walked and never looked back. I have never regretted that decision; I only wish I had asked for a refund.

From the 1975 play, "common" people spout philosophy and psychology in street slang. By attributing middle-class "hang-ups" like greed, paranoia and vanity to "losers," Mamet dramatizes "our" similarity to "them" (we all have our investment "bubbles") and vice versa. Luckily for the audience, this is done within the context of a deceptively simple (if we can piece it together from the fragmented conversations) crime story (touches of O. Henry) and some uniquely funny dialog and situations. Good acting, esp Nelson. In a recent interview, Arthur Miller had decried how difficult it had become to be a "serious" Broadway playwright. Apparently Mamet saw the "writing" on the wall and turned to screenplays, and has managed to appeal to a sufficiently wide audience. Many writers have been less successful at that transition, as satirized in "Barton Fink."

They play two complete dirt bag scummy guys… who truly believe themselves to be criminal masterminds. Dustin Hoffman is totally convincing as a greasy know it all 'brains' of the operation as they plan to steal back a valuable Buffalo Nickel that was snagged by a customer at Denise Franz's hole in the wall second hand junk store. Most of the film is the interaction between the two main characters debating philosophy, ideology, while tripping over their own lack of intelligence and trying to hide the simple fact that… they are both totally incompetent idiots. Their arguments are thoroughly entertaining as they plan the big heist… will they, can they pull it off… just watch.

Overly talky and often tedious and annoying (especially at the start), "American Buffalo" seems to be going around in circles. Mamet's dialogue is occasionally amusing (like in the "wrong number" scene), but cannot completely cover up the fact that nothing much happens - by the time the film ends, not one thing has changed in the characters' lives. There are some tense moments and the performances are good, but I can't imagine more than 10% of any given audience enjoying this film. (**)