The Big Squeeze

REVIEW
If Quentin Tarantino directed an Afterschool Special, the result might be something like The Big Squeeze. It's an amiable, sunny noir (a contradiction that works) about an unhappy wife and a scam artist who team to sting her born-again husband out of $130,000. The Big Squeeze is refreshingly upbeat, so that even its double-crossing and infidelities seem good-natured. There's also an unexpected (though successful) religious miracle theme. Unfortunately, the character intros are irritatingly cutesy, and the film as a whole tends to be too sitcomish. But the appealing performances (especially Boyle and Nucci) and light pace certainly compensate.