Chain of Fools (film)

For the Aretha Franklin song, see Chain of Fools (song).

Chain of Fools
Directed by	Pontus Löwenhielm Patrick von Krusenstjerna
Produced by	Charles Block Tony Lord Steven Reuther
Written by	Bix Skahill
Starring	Steve Zahn Salma Hayek David Cross Elijah Wood Jeff Goldblum
Music by	Mark Oliver Everett David Hughes John Murphy
Cinematography	Frederick Elmes
Editing by	Harvey Rosenstock
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s)	United States: September 22, 2000 Czech Republic: November 30 Kuwait: November 20, 2001
Running time	96 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$20,000,000 (estimate)

Chain of Fools (also known by its production title Shiny New Enemies) is a 2000 heist comedy/romance film about a hapless barber named Kresk (Steve Zahn).

Plot

Thomas Kresk is a loser—he isn't good at his job, he's been tossed out of his home, and his wife just dumped him for the marriage counselor. Now he's depressed, and contemplating suicide. And yes, things get worse: a criminal named Avnet (Jeff Goldblum) has stolen three priceless coins, and decided to blackmail Bollingsworth (Tom Wilkinson), his billionaire partner in crime. After Kresk overhears this, he almost gets shot—and Avnet ends up impaled on a pair of barbers' scissors.

Now Kresk is in a considerably nastier situation, so he steals the gun and the coins. But things take a sharp turn when he hires a hit man named Mikey (Elijah Wood), and discovers that the hit man is only seventeen and emotionally traumatized by his parents' suicide. And that Kresk is falling for the cop/Playboy model Sgt. Meredith Kolko (Salma Hayek), and that his nephew Scottie (Devin Drewitz) has now swallowed the coins. Now Kresk is in over his head, and has to deal with the strange and sometimes dangerous people around him.

Cast

• Steve Zahn as Kresk
• Salma Hayek as Kolko
• Jeff Goldblum as Avnet
• David Cross as Andy
• Elijah Wood as Mikey
• Tom Wilkinson as Bollingsworth
• David Hyde Pierce as Mr. Kerne
• Kevin Corrigan as Paulie
• Orlando Jones as Miss Cocoa
• Lara Flynn Boyle as Karen
• John Cassini as Henchman
• Michael Rapaport as Hitman
• Craig Ferguson as Melander Stevens

Crew

Chain of Fools was written by Bix Skahill and directed by an entity known as "Traktor." This is not, in fact, a single person, but a Swedish production team consisting of five directors and two producers.

The stunt coordinator was David Jacox.

External links

• Chain of Fools
• Chain of Fools at AllRovi
• Chain of Fools at the Internet Movie Database
• Chain of Fools at Rotten Tomatoes