Pulp Fiction Ripoffs

There are various degrees to how much this or that film rips off Pulp Fiction. But if you want to see what a full-on, 100% blatant rip off looks like, search no further than 2 Days in the Valley. 

Released two years after Pulp Fiction, 2 Days in the Valley features a sizable cast of criminals who are supposed to be really quirky and funny in a series of stories that intersect in unexpected ways that you probably won't care about much. It has Jeff Daniels in it, but that's about it.

Put it this way: if Pulp Fiction were a poster of Bruce Lee, this movie would be the fat kid imitating it while looking in the mirror.

1999's Go takes the Pulp Fiction structure and successfully applies it to a story about young people partying and selling drugs. Not only does it copy Pulp Fiction's non-chronological storytelling, but it features sudden violence played for comedy and a super-cool drug dealer who openly quotes The Breakfast Club. Instead of Christopher Walken, this one has William Fichtner.

Though often too cute for its own good, Go manages to ape Pulp Fiction in an original enough fashion that it stands as its own movie.

The Boondock Saints is a crime film about two lovable brothers who start killing mob guys because they think God told them to. While this concept might supply an okay Blues Brother ripoff, it makes for a horrible Pulp Fiction ripoff.

The film plays like director Troy Duffy fell in love with Pulp Fiction without actually understanding any of it. The idea of a criminal obeying a higher calling is instantly reminiscent of Pulp Fiction's Jules Winnfield. But while Jules Winnfield uses his religious epiphany to finally quit a life of crime, the Boondock Saints brothers use it to shoot the hell out of everyone they come across in loving slow motion.

The film also wastes performances by both Billy Connolly and Willem Dafoe, and Quentin Tarantino would never do that.

Although Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels has become an oft-ripped off film of its own (have you ever seen Snatch? Both Guy Ritchie, we know, but they play a little too similar), its origins owe a lot to Pulp Fiction.

Lock Stock tells the story of a group of low life buddies who lose money they don't have in a card game and have to do a bunch of crazy stuff to save their necks. The story and editing aren't all that Tarantino-esque, but many other elements are. The criminals are super articulate with cool crime-based nicknames, the film gets most of its laughs from violent, high tense situations, and there's even a guy with a Jheri curl.

While Pulp Fiction may be the better movie, Lock Stock certainly succeeds at being excessively fun and easy to watch. Plus it gave Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones to the world, so it can't be that bad.