Jack Nicholson reunited with director Bob Rafelson, director of Five Easy Pieces and The King Of Marvin Gardens, for this violent, downbeat crime drama. Alex (Jack Nicholson) is a wine dealer whose business is going belly-up, along with his life. His step-son Jason (Stephen Dorff) hates him, his wife Suzanne (Judy Davis) has a drinking problem and is the constant target of Alex's abuse, and Alex is having an affair with Gabriella (Jennifer Lopez), a domestic worker from Cuba. One of the people that Gabriella cleans for has a diamond necklace worth several million dollars locked in a safe in a bedroom. Desperate for a quick score to get himself out of debt, Alex sees a opportunity for a lot of fast money and hooks up with Victor (Michael Caine), a career criminal who knows how to open safes but is desperately ill with tuberculosis. Nicholson and Rafelson first worked together on the film Head, starring The Monkees (Nicholson only had a bit part, but he also wrote the screenplay and was credited with producing the soundtrack album).