Who is Cletis Tout?

Watching Cletis Tout is like watching your 10-year-old niece do a magic show; sure, she makes lots of mistakes, and you see what’s coming from a mile away, but still, it’s just so darn cute you don’t even care. Basically, Tout is a self-referential film noir, wherein Trevor Finch (Christian Slater) must explain to hit-man Critical Jim (Tim Allen) that he is not, in fact, Cletis Tout. Tout suffers from plot holes you could drive a truck through, some ridiculous story points, and a few too many jokes that just fall flat. On the other hand, the characters are likeable, the story moves quickly even when it strains credibility, and even though it’s perfectly clear how everything’s going to turn out, it at least turns out in a satisfying manner, so who cares. Plus there’s some genuinely funny stuff with Louis Di Bianco and Tony Nappo as two incompetent hit men, but you really have to wait for it. Still, what the hell, the movie theater’s air-conditioned, right?