’m too scared.” Overdue for retirement, Charles Mayough (Liam Neeson) no longer wishes to be in his particular profession. Despite 18 good years, he can no longer control his fears, especially after a near-death experience in the line of duty during his last mission. But the DEA worked too hard on his cover story, which means that his boss refuses to let him go. He must remain undercover for at least one more assignment – just long enough to get a bust on the Fidel Vaillar (Jose Zuniga) bank, which is moving nearly a billion dollars around for a drug cartel led by Don Carmine Minetti (Frank Vincent). Notwithstanding his constant nightmares stemming from the trauma of a Miami operation that fell apart (resulting in one of his partners dying), Charlie is still the best man for when gangsters need to be taken down.

When Charlie meets a psychiatrist on a flight, he begins receiving therapy in New York; but he needs so much that he opts to join a group session as well. Of course, his issues are much too big and chaotic for the regular office folk – exacerbated by his involvement with hotheaded psychopath Fulvio Nesstra (Oliver Platt), the “Jeffrey Dahmer of hitmen” and Minetti’s henchman who is unafraid of murdering anyone on a whim – though he’s mercilessly henpecked by his wife Gloria (Mary McCormack), the only person who can bring him back down to reality. Fortunately for Charlie, as he contends with the possibility of being found out and killed at any moment, he also strikes up a romance with enema nurse Judy Tipp (Sandra Bullock, who also serves as producer), who provides a calming aura.

Channeling “The Big Lebowski,” “Gun Shy” features some hallucinatory flashbacks, paired with superb choices in contrastingly upbeat music (the songs “Blue Skies for Everyone” by Bob Schneider and “Under the Sun” by Big Kenny are perfect selections). It also takes a curiously lighthearted approach to its mobster suspense and violence, such as breaking up sincere business meetings and confrontations with hilarity – of the kind that doesn’t force the characters to behave outside of their established roles. It’s very funny, but in an incredibly subdued way (making excellent use of paralleling, intercut scenes). It’s also interesting that the leads must do what is expected of them for their positions (fulfilling stereotypes), but they secretly want to do the exact opposite. Lawmen don’t want to nab bad guys, while the bad guy just wants to garden; this premise makes for a droll black comedy.

Still, the pacing is slightly off; though it focuses on character development and interactions, with a surprisingly capable script (it’s not often that a lead deals with irritable bowels), expertly delivered by Neeson and Platt, it doesn’t move very quickly. In fact, for a picture about an undercover agent navigating dangerous players, the bulk of it actually settles on relationships (and comical coincidences). In a strange way, “Gun Shy” doesn’t want to focus on action-packed showdowns, even though that does eventually happen (clearly, it wishes to embrace the oddness and humorousness of “Pulp Fiction”). Here, it may be a crime comedy, only outwardly examining high-stakes underworld deals among deadly fixers, but underneath it wishes to impart how everyone, good or bad (both quite average), could benefit tremendously from therapy, as they misinterpret notions of succeeding or failing, worry about living up to expectations (battling low self-esteem), and struggle with controlling tempers. Sadly, it often spells its message out a touch too flagrantly (“Even the bad guys are unhappy?”). Nevertheless, it builds to an unusually amusing finale (slow as it is) – that anticipated face-off where all the competing parties collide – in which a surprise or two, contrived as they may be, results in a decent amount of entertainment.

– Mike Massie