Alright, settle in, pop that tape in the VCR (mind the tracking!), and let's talk about a mid-90s concoction that felt like lightning in a bottle if you stumbled upon it down the 'New Releases' aisle at Blockbuster: John Herzfeld's sprawling, messy, and undeniably entertaining 2 Days in the Valley (1996). This wasn't your typical brain-off action flick; it was something... different. A sun-drenched slice of L.A. crime pulp that threw a dozen characters into a blender and hit 'high'.
Remember that wave of quirky, dialogue-heavy crime films that washed over us after Pulp Fiction? 2 Days in the Valley rode that wave hard, maybe wiping out occasionally, but doing it with a certain chaotic charm. It wasn't trying to be Tarantino, exactly, but you could feel that same energy buzzing underneath – the intersecting storylines, the sudden bursts of violence punctuating darkly comic conversations, the feeling that absolutely anything could happen next in the sprawling, smoggy expanse of the San Fernando Valley. I distinctly remember renting this one, drawn by the intriguing cover and the promise of James Spader doing his uniquely menacing thing, and getting way more than I bargained for.
Welcome to the Neighborhood
The setup is pure ensemble chaos: Lee Woods (James Spader, radiating icy cool even in hideous 90s shirts) and Dosmo Pizzo (Danny Aiello, bringing effortless world-weariness) are hitmen dispatched to take out Roy Foxx (Peter Horton). Things go sideways immediately, leaving Dosmo stranded and Lee paired with the stunningly naive Norwegian assassin-wannabe Helga Svelgen (Charlize Theron, in her first credited speaking role – more on that later!). Meanwhile, across the valley, a suicidal, washed-up director Alvin Strayer (Jeff Daniels, playing gloriously against type as a rage-fueled mess) crosses paths with a compassionate nurse (Glenne Headly). Add in a pair of vice cops (played by Eric Stoltz and Teri Hatcher), an art dealer (Greg Cruttwell channeling peak Euro-sleaze), his assistant (Marsha Mason), and a veteran screenwriter (Paul Mazursky), and you've got a tangled web that’s guaranteed to snap somewhere spectacular.
Herzfeld, who also wrote the script, clearly loved these characters, even the deeply flawed ones. It’s said he based Danny Aiello’s character Dosmo on someone he actually knew, which might explain the surprising heart lurking beneath the hitman exterior. And getting Charlize Theron? Legend has it Herzfeld discovered her while she was having a very public, very loud argument with a bank teller on Hollywood Boulevard. Talk about a Hollywood discovery story! He saw star quality in that fire, apparently, and threw her into this mix – a gamble that paid off spectacularly. She’s luminous, even if Helga is initially played more for laughs and pin-up appeal.
Valley Heat and Sudden Violence
While it's more of a darkly comic thriller than a non-stop action assault, when the violence hits in 2 Days, it hits with a messy, unglamorous thud that felt jarringly real back then. There are no perfectly choreographed ballets of bullets here. Think less John Woo, more sudden, desperate scrabbling. The opening hit is grimly efficient, setting a tone that the film often undercuts with humor, only to snap back to brutality.
And then there’s that scene. You know the one. The no-holds-barred, knock-down, drag-out catfight between Teri Hatcher's Becky Foxx and Charlize Theron's Helga. Forget sleek martial arts; this was pure, unadulterated grappling, scratching, and furniture-smashing chaos. It felt raw and desperate, largely because it was practical. Two actresses really going for it (within the bounds of safety, of course), throwing lamps, rolling over sofas, ending up exhausted and bruised in a trashed hotel room. It wasn’t elegant, but man, did it feel visceral on that fuzzy CRT screen! It lacked the slick polish of today's CGI-assisted brawls, but its sheer physicality made it intensely memorable. Remember how startlingly real those impacts looked compared to the more staged fights common at the time?
A Passion Project's Quirky Charm
John Herzfeld reportedly nursed this script for years, struggling to get it made. It feels like a passion project, bursting with ideas and characters, maybe sometimes too many. Shot largely on location, the film absolutely nails the specific, slightly faded vibe of the San Fernando Valley – the strip malls, the canyons, the cookie-cutter houses hiding desperate lives. It’s not just generic L.A.; it’s the Valley.
Financed somewhat independently with a modest budget (around $6.5 million, peanuts even then), it managed to pull in about $11 million domestically. Not a blockbuster, but a solid return, finding its real legs, like so many 90s gems, in the video rental market. Critical reception was decidedly mixed. Some praised the performances (especially Spader’s unforgettable turn as the philosophizing, cucumber-cool killer Lee Woods) and the energetic pulp plotting. Others dismissed it as a Tarantino knock-off, lacking the master's sharp dialogue and structural genius. Maybe it is a bit derivative, but it's got its own weird heartbeat. Herzfeld isn't Tarantino, but he corralled this wild cast and delivered something uniquely messy and watchable. He'd later direct the Robert De Niro thriller 15 Minutes (2001), but 2 Days retains a scrappy energy that feels distinct.
The Verdict
2 Days in the Valley is a snapshot of a specific moment in mid-90s indie filmmaking. It's overstuffed, occasionally uneven, and wears its influences on its sleeve. But it's also packed with fantastic performances from a killer ensemble cast, crackles with dark humor, delivers jolts of unvarnished violence, and features one of the most memorable early turns from a future superstar. It captures that feeling of lives colliding under the hazy California sun, propelled by desperation, bad decisions, and the occasional moment of unexpected grace.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
Why this score? It loses points for occasionally feeling derivative and a bit structurally unwieldy, but gains big points for its stellar cast working at full tilt (Spader! Theron's debut! Aiello!), its palpable sense of place, those jolts of raw practical action, and its overall quirky, rewatchable charm. It’s a film that perfectly embodies the ambitious, slightly chaotic energy of the post-Pulp Fiction indie boom.
Final Thought: Like finding a surprisingly flavourful, slightly weird burrito at a Valley strip mall, 2 Days in the Valley might not be gourmet, but damn if it doesn't hit the spot with its unique blend of sun-baked crime and unexpected heart – a true artifact of 90s VHS pulp.