One might look at Butch and see a man that shouldn't be messed with. But beneath the well-muscled, tough-guy exterior he's actually a wimp. After failing miserably at a security guard job - by cowering as the place was robbed - his girlfriend tells him to get a backbone and a job or get out. He answers an advertisement for a bodyguard placed by a man named Charlie, who has a winning lottery ticket, but is incredibly paranoid about both being safe before he cashes it and how to deal with his family once he's rich.
Butch thinks he's got the job - he certainly looks intimidating and figures he should be able to scare anyone away without having to get into any fights. But he finds himself in competition with another candidate - William. Instead of using intimidation or brute force, William uses his skills as a manipulator in order to get people to do what he wants. Charlie hires both men, a decision that neither of them are happy with.
The premise of the film, while it could likely have been taken in multiple directions, was mostly angled toward a comedy - especially with the characters of Butch (the name pretty much says it all,) William (a cross between Ray Elwood and Patrick Bateman*) and Charlie (think Brown, not Sheen). Putting three very different individuals - a suave manipulator, a outspoken tough guy, and a very paranoid and ineffectual man - together could have the potential for a lot of humor. Unfortunately, this just didn't happen.
Pacing in this film was very slow; it took about 25 minutes before the plot was up and running, and the rest of the film didn't go much faster. There was far too much extraneous dialogue with characters either talking about nothing or the same thing multiple times. It seemed as though the film was being inflated to make it stretch to a longer running time. If one can't come up with enough logical reasons to build a story, it's best to keep it short rather than dragging the thing out. In addition, the parts of the story that could have used more explanation were just skipped over. It's easy to write like this without realizing it - if you know the story, sometimes it's easy to elaborate on your favorite parts and neglect to mention important plot elements. That's where a group of uninitiated friends and family members come in - give them a final draft and see if it makes sense. If you have to give any plot or character explanations, it's time to go back to the drawing board.
Warning! Spoilers Ahead!
At the end of the film, after Butch and William have been jockeying with each other for the job and protecting Charlie from crazed family members, they are given quite a surprise. Charlie, who is actually independently wealthy and highly untrusting, set up the whole scenario in order to find a bodyguard who would be loyal to him, no matter what the circumstances. These types of reindeer games are apparently his favorite way of finding friends and employees, since he believes that people will otherwise use him for his money. This belief is validated by the appearance of Charlie's mother who demands money from him, to which he obliges. It's a really good twist at the end, leaving an interesting commentary on the cost of having money.
