“Guns Up” Finds Kevin James in a Surprising, Blood-Soaked Family Comedy

“Guns Up” is the kind of B-movie that sneaks up on you. On the surface, it’s a 92-minute sprint of mob shootouts, fast one-liners, and Kevin James cracking skulls in a way few audiences expected from the one-time king of sitcom pratfalls. But beneath the gunfire and the absurdity, director Edward Drake is chasing something heavier: the burden of loyalty, and what it costs a man to protect the people he loves.

James stars as Ray Hayes, an ex-cop who moonlights as a mob enforcer while trying to keep his wife Alice (Christina Ricci) and their children sheltered from his double life. He’s the guy who dreams of leaving “The Family” to run a diner—because in these movies, the promise of pancakes always seems more dangerous than a pistol. Naturally, his “one last job” implodes, and the countdown begins: Ray has one night to outwit mob boss Ignatius Locke (Luis Guzmán), survive the fists of Charlie Brooks (Joey Diaz), and navigate the fury of Melissa Leo’s Michael Temple, all while hustling his unsuspecting family out of the city.

The premise isn’t new. What makes “Guns Up” pop is the tension between its absurd action comedy beats and the lived-in weariness James brings to the role. He’s heavier, slower, a little broken down—but that’s the point. Drake’s camera lingers on his exhaustion, his fatherly panic, and even when the film leans into slapstick violence, James grounds it in desperation.

Ricci, as Alice, brings a sharp edge, playing less of the dutiful mob-wife stereotype and more of a partner who sees cracks in her husband’s lies long before the bullets fly. Guzmán, with his trademark swagger, makes Locke memorable even when the script dips into cliché. And Joey Diaz? He steals every scene he touches, balancing menace with a comic rhythm that lands just right.

Drake’s statement about his grandfather and his years scraping together a career explains the grit here. “Guns Up” isn’t glossy—it looks and feels like it was shot in 18 grueling days, because it was. But instead of working against the film, the rough edges give it character. The choppy pacing and budget limitations almost become part of the comedy: this is a movie about survival, made by people who clearly had to survive to finish it.

Is it perfect? No. Some jokes miss. Some action sequences feel too choreographed, too clean for the stakes they’re meant to carry. But what lingers is the film’s heart. Beneath the mob clichés, beneath the shootouts and betrayals, there’s a genuine question: how much does a man owe to his family, and how much does it cost him to keep them safe?

Drake’s influences—his grandfather’s work ethic, his time with Bruce Willis, his own sacrifices—bleed through every frame. That doesn’t elevate “Guns Up” into prestige territory. But it does make it a rarity: an action comedy that isn’t afraid to admit it was built on sweat, heartbreak, and the fragile ties of family.

In the end, “Guns Up” delivers on its modest promise: it entertains after a long day, then leaves you thinking about what really matters when the guns go silent.

Runtime: 1 hr 32 min. Rated R.