Ever since this convoluted thriller dazzled audiences and critics in 1995 and won an Oscar for Christopher McQuarrie's twisting screenplay, "The Usual Suspects" has continued to divide movie lovers into opposite camps. While a lot of people take great pleasure from the movie's now-famous central mystery (namely, "Who is Keyser Söze?"), others aren't so easily impressed by a movie that's too enamored of its own cleverness to make much sense. After all, what are we to make of a final scene that renders the entire movie obsolete? Half the fun of "The Usual Suspects" is the debate it provokes and the sheer pleasure of watching its dynamic cast in action, led by Oscar winner Kevin Spacey as the club-footed con man who recounts the saga of enigmatic Hungarian mobster Keyser Söze. Spacey's in a band of thieves that includes Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Pollak, and Benicio Del Toro, all gathered in a plot to steal a large shipment of cocaine. The story is told in flashback as a twisted plot being described by Spacey's character to an investigating detective (Chazz Palmintieri), and "The Usual Suspects" is enjoyable for the way it keeps the viewer guessing right up to its surprise ending. Whether that ending will enhance or extinguish the pleasure is up to each viewer to decide.
Kevin Spacey | Roger 'Verbal' Kint |
Gabriel Byrne | Dean Keaton |
Chazz Palminteri | Dave Kujan, US Customs |
Stephen Baldwin | Michael McManus |
Kevin Pollak | Todd Hockney |
Benicio Del Toro | Fred Fenster |
Pete Postlethwaite | Kobayashi |
Giancarlo Esposito | Jack Baer, FBI |
Suzy Amis | Edie Finneran |
Dan Hedaya | Sgt. Jeffrey 'Jeff' Rabin |
Paul Bartel | Smuggler |
Carl Bressler | Saul Berg |
Phillipe Simon | Fortier |
Jack Shearer | Renault |
Christine Estabrook | Dr. Plummer |