After sitting on a shelf for nearly three years, Knockaround Guys was finally released to the public to capitalize on the big screen appeal of one of the movie’s stars, Vin Diesel.

The movie is set in the underground world of the Mob. Matty Demeret (Barry Pepper) and his group of friends (Diesel, Seth Green, and Andrew Davoli) are the “knockaround guys”, the sons and relatives of big time Brooklyn mobsters who are stuck with the little jobs that no one wants.

Matty was tested as a child to become a bigger gun, but failed and, years later, is forced now to prove himself to his father (Dennis Hopper).

On the advice of his uncle (John Malkovich), Matty asks his father for a job to deliver some money for him.

Unfortunately for Matty, the job gets botched and the four friends find themselves without the cash and stuck in a small Midwestern town. The sheriff and deputy have the cash and aren’t ready to part with it. Enter Matty’s uncle.

The movie has a somewhat predictable plot, but there were a few unexpected twists that left me jumping in my seat, mostly to cover my eyes due to the nature of violence in the movie.

Vin Diesel is, of course, the muscle of the movie, and one of the best scenes features him in a bar with the local tough guy.

You’ve seen quite a bit of the fight through the trailers already, but there are still some surprises left in store for you.

Barry Pepper plays the tortured son looking for daddy’s approval so convincingly, you can feel his desperation when he finds out the money is first gone.

Malkovich and Hopper seem stilted in their scenes together. Malkovich’s tough guy has long speech patterns and a way of portraying the biggest smartass attitude on screen since Jim Carrey’s alter-ego in The Mask.

Hopper plods through, trying to appear the boss, but somehow falls flat of his intended role.

Green’s Marbles character is a combination of every stupid Mob character you’ve ever heard of. On anyone else, the performance would have been a joke – but Green pulls it off without compromising the character.

Davoli’s Chris Scarpa is a bit part. He knows he’s not a big deal in the movie and he shows it. A scene stealer, Davoli is not.

Well, until the climax, of course.

The sheriff and his deputy are seen as the evil guys against the Mob, which is a welcome change.

Overall, Knockaround Guys is a violent, action-packed movie full of things that guys would enjoy. For ladies, there’s 94 minutes of Diesel, Green, Pepper, and Datillo. It is hard, however, to dismiss the violent nature of the film.

The movie is rated R for violence, language and some drug use.