David Mamet is the Chicago playwright renowned for his bleak, wordy (especially f-wordy), high-velocity, hard-driven dramas like Glengarry Glenross, Sexual Perversity In Chicago and American Buffalo. His first feature film, House Of Games, offered more of the same, but he took his foot off the accelerator and turned down the volume considerably for his next vehicle, Things Change.
Veteran actor Don Ameche (Trading Places, Cocoon) Gino, a humble Italian man who is picked up by the Cosa Nostra because hes a dead ringer for the head hit-man wanted for murder. The old guy is offered riches beyond his wildest dreams to take the rap for the unrepentent malefactor ( I shot him three or four times, the son of a bitch) enough to buy his longed-for boat when he gets out of the slammer. Mamets favourite actor Joe Mantegna (House Of Games, Suspect) is Jerry, the soft-hearted hood on probation charged with briefing Gino for his trial. Moved by the old mans stoic innocence, he decides to show him a good time during his last weekend of freedom and takes him off for Mafia-ridden Lake Tahoe. Then things change
Things Change is valuable for the quality of its acting and for Mamets chuckle-laden screenplay. There are some wonderful momentslike when Gino bets his brand-new $35,000 on the Wheel Of Fortune as the two protagonists experience mutual growth: Jerry picks up a few values while Gino gains a glint in his eye.