NO GAG

By RICHARD SCHICKEL

Neo (or possibly faux) Tarantino: comically excessive, in-your-face violence; intricately coincidental but not entirely unpersuasive plotting; black humor; and, at the center of the story, a large sum of funny money and, more important, a sweetly loyal, ultimately all-conquering romance.

That the latter, in the case of Bound, is between lesbians--a gangster's moll named Violet (Jennifer Tilly) and Corky the handywoman fixing up the apartment next door (Gina Gershon)--has caused a certain amount of prerelease stir. But their relationship is more verbal than physical (with their sexual encounters very discreetly managed), and the fun of this movie--written and directed by the brothers Wachowski, Larry and Andy--lies elsewhere.

That is in the ladies' clever and gutsy scheme to separate $2 million from Ceasar (Joe Pantoliano), who is keeping Violet. He's a hateful lout, so there are multiple pleasures to be found in watching him being maneuvered toward comeuppance by characters everyone can love as underdogs. The Wachowskis have the predilection for loopy camera setups common to first-time directors, but their hearts are in the right transgressive place, and their film will tide some of us over until Quentin gets...well...unbound. --R.S.