2 Days in the Valley

Dir: John Herzfeld

1996

****

2 Days in the Valley is one of those 90s oddities that didn’t quite live up to expectations but was much better than the flop it was declared as at the time. The big problem with 2 Days in the Valley was how it was marketed. It was called ‘the new Pulp Fiction’ as so many quirky crime dramas were back in the late 90s, even though they were nothing like it. It also sold itself purely on its stars - Teri Hatcher who was hot property at the time thanks to Louis & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Charlize Theron – who took her clothes off. The thing is, Teri Hatcher’s role isn’t particularly big and Charlize Theron has nothing to give, other than her nipples. Don’t get me wrong, teenage boys were thrilled with the film but they fast-forwarded rather than watch the whole thing. It’s selling points were far from what was good about it. It was the performances from Danny Aiello, James Spader, Jeff Daniels and Eric Stoltz, plus the brilliant script that really made 2 Days in the Valley tick. The story is basically 48 hours in the lives of a group of characters who are drawn together by a murder. It begins with two hitmen, Lee Woods and Dosmo Pizzo (Spader and Aiello), who walk into a bedroom where a sleeping couple, aspiring Olympic athlete Becky Foxx and her ex-husband Roy Foxx (Hatcher and Peter Horton), are in bed. Lee injects Becky with a tranquilizer then shoots Roy in the head. They then drive to an abandoned area of Mulholland Drive where Lee shoots Dosmo and blows up the car in order to set him up as the fall guy for the murder. He then flees the scene with his girlfriend Helga (the scantily clad Charlize Theron). However, Dosmo was wearing a bulletproof vest and somehow survives the shooting and car explosion. He seeks shelter at the mansion of wealthy art dealer Allan Hopper (Greg Cruttwell), where he takes Hopper and his assistant, Susan Parish (Glenne Headly), hostage. Dosmo is unaware that Hopper has called his sister, Audrey Hopper (Marsha Mason), a nurse, to come to the house. On her way, Audrey picks up Teddy Peppers (Paul Mazursky), a down-and-out TV producer contemplating suicide. Meanwhile, Becky awakens and discovers Roy's body in bed beside her. She runs from her house and flags down two detectives, young, ambitious Wes Taylor (Eric Stoltz) and cynical veteran Alvin Strayer (Jeff Daniels), who are driving by. Although he is sympathetic, Wes begins to suspect that Becky knows more than she is saying. Becky, who had hired Lee and Dosmo to kill Roy for $30,000, was unaware that they would kill Roy in her own house. Meanwhile, Lee goes back to the house to get the money, encounters two homicide detectives working the crime scene, and kills them both. Wes decides to return to the crime scene to see if he can offer any insight on the case. Masquerading as one of the detectives, Lee lures Wes outside, intending to kill him. Outside the house, Becky and Helga get into an argument which escalates into a fight that ends with Becky shooting Helga in a confused scuffle before escaping. Helga finds her way to Becky's house, where Lee has knocked Wes unconscious. Lee reluctantly decides to kill Helga instead of taking her to the hospital, concluding that her wound is too severe to be treated, but his gun jams. He turns to retrieve Wes's gun but finds that Helga has escaped and has flagged down a passing car containing Dosmo and his hostages. Susan jumps out of the car and tries to help the dying Helga, but Helga dies on the roadside. Wes is caught in the middle of a shoot out between Dosmo and Lee, and is shot in the legs. Just before Lee can kill Dosmo, Teddy shoots Lee, killing him. A grateful Wes allows Dosmo to take the $30,000 and escape with Susan. The following day, Teddy shows up to an anniversary party that Audrey is attending. As Susan and Dosmo drive down a highway, Dosmo contemplates using the money to start a pizzeria in Brooklyn, Susan smiles and and the pair drive off into the sunset. While there are big names there are mediocre performances but I would still argue that the film is greater than the sum of its parts. To be honest, I like it more now then I did then. At the time it was lost among other more exciting and hyped films but in retrospect 2 Days in the Valley has aged better than most ‘90s classics’. It’s an oddball quirky crime-comedy, not perfect but all the better for it – if that makes any sense?