Avery Brooks

The story opens as two men come through US customs in New York. Oleg (Oleg Taktarov) is taking pictures, and Emil (Karel Roden) is nervous. Oleg is interested in photography and movies, and spouts on to the customs agent. Across town Robert Hawkins (Kelsey Grammer) is arguing with his assistant Cassandra (Kim Cattrall) about his news network, stating that tragedy sells more. Cassandra wants to raise ratings, and they decide to film Detective Eddie Fleming (Robert DeNiro) as he does a stakeout. Eddie is a drunk, but a regular media attraction when sober. Eddie preps for his bust, and Robert's film crew follows the action, but misses the key scene. Oleg goes "shopping" for a camera, then films Emil as they arrive at Milos's (Vladimir Mashkov) apartment to collect their share of a bank job. Milos tells Emil that Oleg got them caught and an argument ensures. Email wants his money, but Milos does not have it. Emil stabs Milos and strangles his wife, while Oleg films and neighbor Daphne (Vera Farmiga) watches, hidden. Emil hears her leaving but cannot stop her. Emil hides the bodies with a "Bohemian BBQ", dousing them in acetone. Fire Marshal Jordy Warsaw (Edward Burns) gets the call for the fire. After subduing a would-be mugger, he arrives at the apartment fire, crossing paths with Eddie. Jordy finds a timer and deduces the fire is a homicide. Daphne tries to flag Jordy down, but the crowd is too big. Emil has Daphne's wallet, and realizes she is in the country illegally. He finds a card for an escort service and calls the number, asking for a Czech girl. He and oleg start learning American values from shows like Rosie O'Donnell and Robert Hawkin's. The hooker arrives, and Emil tries to get information from her, but she knows nothing, and Emil kills her. Jordy and his partner Bobby (John DiResta) return to the fire station and are rebuked by Fire Chief Marshal Declan Duffy (James Handy) for handing evidence to Eddie. Jordy tries to get a sketch of Daphne, sensing she has a story to tell. He returns to the burned-out apartment and finds Eddie. Eddie gets a call about the dead hooker, and tags along. Eddie deduces that there were two killers, and the murder weapon may match the one used on Milos. Eddie and Jordy visit the escort service and talk to Rose (Charlize Theron). Rose recognizes Daphne from the police sketch, and also reveals that Emil and Oleg were inquiring about her. Eddie and Jordy race to the nail salon where Daphne works. Oleg and Emil are already there (Oleg filming, getting his "15 minutes of fame"). Emil gives her a warning, and they leave right before Jordy arrives. The cops see them and give chase, but they escape, beating Detective Jackson (Avery Brooks) and stealing his wallet/gun, and also shooting Bobby. Eddie fires a shot, hitting Emil in the foot, but they escape. Eddie and Jordy interview Daphne, and she reveals that she once shot a cop who was raping her sister. Jordy asks to interview her alone, since she is scared. Daphne tries to get Jordy to let her shower before going to the police station. Eddie meets with his girlfriend Nicolette (Melina Kanakaredes), and tries to propose to her in Greek. Nicolette is a reporter, and gets an urgent call from the network, right in the middle of his proposal. Email and Oleg go through Detective Jackson's wallet and find Eddie's home address. At the police station, Jordy's boss complains to him about the shower, but Eddie covers for him, although he laters tells Jordy it was a mistake. At home, Eddie is working on his proposal routine when Oleg and Emil show up and knock him out. When he comes to, they have bound him to a chair. Emil lays out his plan: he will plead insanity to the murders, based on the fact that they film their murders, and will later write books about their experience (like they've seen on TV). Eddie fights them, but is stabbed to death. At Eddie's wake, Emil calls Robert and tells him he has a film of Eddie's death, and wants to sell it. Robert pays them. Meanwhile, Jordy takes Daphne to her apartment to collect her things, and the light switch starts a booby-trap - fire. Oleg and Email watch from an adjacent building. They leave as the fire department arrives, and Jordy escapes with Daphne. Meanwhile, the police have learned about the tape of Eddie's death, and try to get it before it's broadcast. Oleg and Emil celebrate in a restaurant as the tape airs, and other patrons recognize them. Oleg and Email argue over the film credits, and Oleg stabs Emil and leaves with the money. Hawkins arrives with his TV crew and a lawyer, but Emil realizes Oleg toook the money. Jordy bursts in and Emil is arrested, proclaiming his insanity. Jordy takes Emil to an abandoned warehouse, but cannot kill him in cold blood. The police arrive and take Emil into custody. Emil's lawyer (Bruce Cutler) starts Emil's defense, and Emil offers him 30% of his book/movie revenue. Oleg angrily watches Emil getting press. Daphne goes back to the Czech Republic to stand trial, and Jordy comes under fire for how he dealt with the mugger. Jordy is on scene when Emil is led to his arraignment, intending to kill him, but cannot. Oleg shows Hawkins the tape where Emil explains his plan to use the double jeopardy laws to excape prosecution, and tries to shoot Emil. Emil grabs a gun and shoots Oleg, then grabs Nicolette. Jordy shoots Emil repeatedly, killing him. Oleg films himself dying; Hawkins grabs his camera. Jordy returns Eddie's badge to Nicolette. Hawkins offers to help Jordy, and gets punched in the face. Jordy stalks off, and the credits roll.

Melvin Smiley (Mark Wahlberg) has a good life thanks to his talents as a contract-killer but has a very working-class mentality going about his life, in combination with his constant struggles to maintain two romantic relationships. One is with the demanding and demeaning Chantel (Lela Rochon), who does not accept his work, and the other with Pam (Christina Applegate), who knows nothing of his job. Melvin is somewhat of a pushover, trying to appease all of Chantel's demands, even her most expensive wishes (like paying the next installment of $25K on her mortgage), as well as rolling over whenever one of his co-workers takes credit for his achievements. Chantel is cheating on Melvin and knows that he is engaged to Pam on the side. Pam has also taken $50K out of their savings account to loan to her parents, who are unable to get a loan to start a business due to their bad credit history in the past. Melvin carries out entire heists by himself (taking all the risks), while his co-workers wait for him outside to finish the job. But in front of the boss, they push Melvin behind to take all the credit. Perhaps as a result of his helplessness in asserting himself, throughout the early scenes, Melvin is often seen drinking Maalox to relieve a developing stress-induced ulcer. Feeling underpaid for their work for mob boss Paris (Avery Brooks), the assassin team of Melvin, Cisco (Lou Diamond Phillips), Crunch (Bokeem Woodbine), Vince (Antonio Sabato Jr.) and Gump (Robin Dunne) take an independent job, kidnapping Keiko Nishi (China Chow), the teenage daughter of local electronics magnate Jiro Nishi (Sab Shimono), for a hefty ransom. Melvin poses as her limo driver and picks her up from school. Her boyfriend Lance tries to sexually assault Keiko in the back of the limo and Melvin shoots him. Despite the kidnapping, Keiko is not afraid and instead makes fun of the fact that the kidnappers look amateurs. Unfortunately, the team does not realize that Nishi has recently gone bankrupt over his failed foray into films and furthermore, their boss Paris is the girl's godfather. Enlisted by the group to hold Keiko, Melvin has to hide the bound and gagged schoolgirl on his property. At first, Melvin hides Keiko at Chantel's place, but she kicks her out when she finds that Melvin has been unable to come up with the money for the mortgage like he had promised. Now Melvin has no option but to hide Keiko at Pam's. Attempting to keep her presence hidden from Pam and her parents (Jeanne (Lainie Kazan) & Morotn (Elliott Gould)), who are staying over at Pam's for the weekend. Pam takes her parents to the Jewish temple for their daily prayers. That allows Melvin a little breather to bring things under control. Melvin feels sorry for Keiko and relieves her from her bondage. In the ensuing hours they build up a rapport preparing dinner together, an act which leads into a love scene reminiscent of the pottery scene from Ghost, but which is cut short when Keiko attempts to escape. Melvin captures Keiko and puts her in the boot of his car. Ordered by Paris to discover the kidnappers of his goddaughter, a panicked Cisco kills Gump. While Cisco was with Paris, Gump makes the ransom call to Jiro at the appointed time. By this time Jiro had set up all the trace equipment needed to track and locate the caller. Gump gives the location of the money drop to Jiro, but Jiro stalls enough for the trace to be completed. So, Cisco rushes out (with the rest of Paris's goons) to get to Gump and kill him, because he will spill the beans to Paris. Cisco hits Gump in the midriff into implicating Melvin for the kidnapping, by saying that Keiko is with Melvin. Then Cisco kills Gump. A team of assassins crash Melvin's dinner with Pam's family, leading to a shootout during which Melvin realizes Pam was going to break up with him over pressure from her mother, a hardcore Jew who is severely against her being with Melvin, a Gentile. Melvin and Keiko's growing feelings for each other lead them to forming an awkward romance, and she and Melvin attempt to escape from the fiasco, pursued by Cisco. In the chaos, Melvin happens to run into Chantel (who was running away with her boyfriend and Melvin's money) and finally takes the opportunity to stand up to her and end their relationship. A fight ensues between Cisco and Melvin, culminating at a video store where the ever-honest Melvin stops to return an overdue tape of King Kong Lives. Melvin kills Cisco by stabbing him in the chest, but not before Cisco arms an explosive device. Melvin leaves the building and is confronted by Keiko, her father and Paris. He re-enters the building, which explodes. Paris and Nishi, believing Melvin to be dead, call off the manhunt. Soon Melvin is revealed to have survived, sheltered from the blast by an enormous solid gold film stand-up made for the flop that destroyed Nishi's career. Melvin and Keiko are reunited and ride off together, while Nishi recoups his losses by making a film out of the story of his daughter's kidnapping.