I’m just going to say it…formula’s work.

While no one will ever mistake Paydirt for anything other than something that is completely derivative and predictable, the film still manages a certain charm and entertainment value which makes for some low rent fun.

A parolee (Luke Goss) teams up with his old crew determined to find a buried bag of cash stolen a decade ago from a DEA bust gone bad, while being tracked by a retired Sheriff (Val Kilmer).

The best way to describe Paydirt would be to compare it to a low rent version of Ocean’s Eleven that took place at an Indian casino with a few too many twists.  It follows the cookie cutter pattern of a heist movie to a tee but because it’s so on point when it comes to formula you can’t help but enjoy it all as an entertaining diversion.

Writer/Director Christian Sesma who made the jump from successful restaurateur to filmmaker a few years back is certainly prolific.  He knows how to assemble the bones of a story that works, even when it is lifted from a myriad of films that came before him and to direct a narrative in as efficient a manor as humanly possible.  It’s not a film that is supposed to have any kind of genuine nuance or depth to it; it’s just supposed to be less than 90 minutes and reasonably entertaining.  Sesma does actually do that, even though the cheap nature of a film like this does come through on the screen more often than these filmmakers would probably like it all still works because really you just want some gun fights, some action and the chance that the alluring female lead takes her top off in a movie like this and the audiences wishes more or less get granted.

Luke Goss has actually carved out a nice little niche for himself playing “Jason Statham on a budget” type roles as our hero and leader of this motley crew and he can carry the screen well enough that it makes us wish he was back opposite Wesley Snipes in Blade II.  On the other side of the coin, while it’s just nice to see Val Kilmer out and about after his terrible bout with throat cancer, he probably deserves something better than this to sink his teeth into.  That being said there’s a real chance that he probably only had to work for three days on this shoot, so who is too complain?

Paydirt obviously isn’t a great movie, but that’s the catch, it’s not TRYING to be one.  All it wants to do is be 90 minutes or less of mindless entertainment where the good guy sails off into the sunset (or a private plane in this case) and it does just that.  It’s not attempting to be more then it is, which actually makes it somewhat of a success.