MovieChat Forums > Suicide Kings (1998) Discussion > How old were these kids supposed to be?

How old were these kids supposed to be?

posted 3 years ago by Alocirp (683)
4 replies | jump to latest

The average age of the group appears to be around 25 years (Max looking even older and Ira looking a bit younger), yet they were oddly concerned about some very... high-school (if not middle-school) type of issues. Worrying about parental punishment from drinking "marked" bottles of liquor? That struck me as especially strange. Can't they just buy their own booze? Even if just to replace/refill any bottles "borrowed" from their parents. They're shown drinking at the bar in the beginning, and the gambling in Atlantic City would suggest they're all at least 21, or at minimum have good enough fake IDs.

I know it's a pretty trivial complaint considering the ridiculousness of their whole plan and the movie in general, but was just curious what their age is actually supposed to be. Several of the kids seemed to be deathly afraid of their parents, yet didn't flinch when it came to kidnapping and mutilating a deadly mob boss, on the off chance that he would have the ability (and willingness) to help them out, even after these transgressions against him.

I guess some might argue this element adds to the dark humor the film was aiming for--and if the execution was better it might have worked to a degree. But in this case, it mostly just struck me as poor writing.

[–] sslssg (34330) 3 years ago

I figured they were early 20s/ college age. I dont think that Ira's folks were worried about them drinking under age, I thought they were just really cheap and didn't want the "help" or Ira stealing from them.

It has been a few years since I've seen it though so I could be wrong .

[–] Alocirp (683) 3 years ago

Thanks for the response. Just to clarify your point, you're suggesting Ira's parents were the cheap ones, correct? I can buy that, but what about the kids themselves? Just seemed strange they were so worried about the bottles being marked when any one of them could have easily run out and gotten a couple of replacement bottles if it was actually a concern.

[–] sslssg (34330) 3 years ago

Yes I was referring to Ira's parents. Again, it's been years, but wasn't the reason they didn't want to jet off for alcohol was because they were in the middle of no where and they had Charlie there? Maybe they were only 20, but Jeremy Sisto's character was in med school, so that made me think older. Unless he was pre med?

[–] Alocirp (683) 3 years ago

I think your assessment of their age (probably low twenties) is correct, but regardless, they certainly had easy access to bars and casinos, so getting booze shouldn't have been a problem. And they weren't really in the middle of nowhere, as at one point they agreed to drop Charlie off at a hotel which was supposedly only half a mile away.

Either way, I didn't mean to suggest they needed to hurry right out for the alcohol. I mean, even if their plan somehow worked, there certainly would have been a lot of cleanup to take care of after the fact. I figured it wouldn't have been a problem to get whatever they needed the next day (or several days after the fact), since it's mentioned the house they were using was just a summer home, and I didn't get the impression Ira's parents were returning any time soon. After all, if the parents WERE going to be back the next morning or something, it'd be even dumber to shack up with a hostage there in the first place. Could be wrong on that point though, as pretty much every aspect of their plan wasn't very well thought out.