Judging by Out Of Sight and Get Shorty, it seems that a hip stylistic approach is key to transferring Elmore Leonard successfully to the screen. Armitage obviously thinks so; hence this lackadaisical, jazzy updating of a Leonard thriller first filmed - very badly - in 1969.
Sensibly, this version ditches the original's dreary Detroit for Hawaii, where surf dude grifter Wilson pitches up one step ahead of the law, only to embroil himself in a who's-scamming-who scenario with local judge Freeman, babelicious Foster, odious property developer Sinise and his two dunderhead heavies, Jones and Sheen. You could carbon-date the plot, but Owen is as watchable as ever, as is Freeman in his role of chilled-out elder statesman.
It's sexy, offbeat fun for the most part, but it's way too laid-back for its own good and, in the end, obstinately refuses to be anything more than the sum of its highly promising parts.