Once Upon a Time in Venice

Directed by Mark Cullen. With Bruce Willis, John Goodman, Jason Momoa, Emily Robinson. A Los Angeles detective seeks out the ruthless gang that stole his dog.

Once Upon a Time in Venice (2017) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more.

Bruce Willis (Die Hard) is Venice Beach P.I. Steve Ford: a detective who's good with the ladies, bad with the punches, and wild about his dog, Buddy. But when his beloved pet is stolen by local thugs, Steve makes a questionable alliance with their devious leader, Spyder (Jason Momoa,

Once Upon a Time in Venice frequently sags underneath its own general lethargy, and not even the snarkiest John McClane can fix that.

While there’s little chance that Bruce Willis will ever again get to work with the kind of material and behind-the-camera talent that helped make him a wiseass action star in the 1980s and ’90s, he tries the fourth or fifth next best thing with Once Upon A Time In Venice, a tiresome imitation of smart-alecky Shane Black whodunits like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Last Boy Scout. Willis plays Steve Ford, a Venice Beach private eye and disgraced loose cannon cop whose beloved Parson Russell terrier gets abducted by drug dealer Spyder (a conceptually Latino Jason Momoa) while he’s supposed to be working a case for local real estate developer Lou The Jew (Adam Goldberg)—a simple enough premise that first-time director Mark Cullen and his co-writer and brother, Robb Cullen, excruciate into 35 minutes. (The dog doesn’t even show up until the 20-minute mark.) That leaves less than two-thirds of the movie for things to happen, but fortunately for our grumbly hero, he has some help in the form of Dave (John Goodman), a surf-shop-owning buddy in the middle of a divorce, and John (Thomas Middleditch), a nervous rookie who is ready to take over completely random portions of the plot or pitch in some voice-over narration whenever Willis feels like taking a nap in his trailer.

Mature humor in goofy-but-violent crime caper. Read Common Sense Media's Once Upon a T

Mark Cullen's ruthlessly boring and decidedly dismal "Once Upon a Time in Venice" marks a new low in Willis' still-trucking action career.

Starring: Bruce Willis, Emily Robinson, Famke Janssen, Jason Momoa, Jessica Gomes, John Goodman, Kaleti Williams, Maurice Compte, Myles Humphus, Tho

Once Upon a Time in Venice (also known as LA Vengeance in the UK) is a 2017 American comedy film directed and written by Mark and Robb Cullen in their directorial debuts. The film stars Bruce Willis, Jason Momoa, John Goodman, Thomas Middleditch, Famke Janssen, and Adam Goldberg