Directed by Timothy Hines and written by lead actor Greg Kritikos and Frederick Stroppel, when grifter Charlie’s screwup friend Tommy G. is going to be killed for his gambling debts, they must decide what roads they’re willing to take or not take in order to save Tommy G.’s life. Also starring: Annunziato Carbone, Dave Morrissey Jr., Domenico Del Giacco, Colin Buckingham, Heather Cole, Annabelle Mayock, Pascal Yen-Pfister, Kelly LeBrock and Burt Young.
Given the title and cheery opening theme song, you’d imagine that you were about to jump into an upbeat, hope-filled musical with Tomorrow’s Today but not quite. It is still surprisingly light-hearted and playful but at the same time it’s trying to create a mobster, crime filled storyline and the two don’t really go together. The issue is that the two are working with competing tones, one is of comedy and hijinks, while the other is seedy, underhanded and a touch dark, it’s a very difficult thing to blend the two and the filmmakers here can’t quite get the balance right. The way that the story moves for a big part it feels more like a tale of friendship and a mix of midlife crises and trying to build a new career later in life. It seems like the film may have benefited from trying to move the focus closer to those themes and build a bigger sense of humour.
That feeling of being split between two worlds or an unfocused edge is something that permeates the entire film. Partially because it has a tendency to throw in a lot of random establishing shots of the city, making it feel more like episodes of a sitcom. As well as that the cinematography has a very everyday quality, the colouring is average and a lot of the shots don’t tend to use the space well. Especially when you’re dealing with a story that walks on the criminal side and doesn’t adjust the atmosphere to fit that added darkness. It then throws in some last minute CGI which feels unnecessary and is not of a good enough quality to fit smoothly.
For the most part the performances from the entire ensemble are solid, it can fall heavy on stereotype and weaken in more intense moments but they all still tick the right boxes. Greg Kritikos, Annunziato Carbone and Dave Morrissey Jr. all create a convincing friendship, it has the typical ups and downs, they have a good bond and it has an interestingly emotional, compassionate edge which is a nice addition for this type of story. It can feel a tad overstuffed though, there’s a lot of different characters at work and not all of them feel like they have something to add. Taking a few of them away and removing those extra city shots could have given it a chance to speed up and create a better pacing or suspense to the story.
Tomorrow’s Today attempts to blend a cheery outlook and story of friendship with gambling, threats and the mobster life, and it ultimately doesn’t work. There are some entertaining elements to the story but it never commits to a tone or atmosphere, it moves between several rather than going all in on the comedy or crime elements. The result of that is its left somewhere in-between and struggles to establish itself. Without that sense of humour or an edge, on top of the average aesthetic and direction, everything can’t manage to come together.
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