Daily Staff Writer

Two years ago, it was obvious this would happen.

Pulp Fiction came out, racked up $100 million at the box office and earned a slew of major film awards, unheard-of achievements for an independent film about a slew of unsavory characters and loaded with graphic violence.

It was obvious that the imitators would come flooding forth from Hollywood’s depths.

2 Days in the Valley, one of the latest Pulp imitators is, well, sort-of-OK.

Writer/director John Herzfeld has packed the film with some terrific characters, but unfortunately, they don’t have much to do.

2 Days in the Valley has enough plot for a one-hour television show stretched into two hours, two hours which at times are interminable.

The story is a bit complex. It involves no less than 11 main characters who become entangled in a murder plot involving a former Olympic skier and a fat insurance policy.

The complexity of the story and the time it takes to get moving will leave some viewers wondering just when the film plans to get down to business.

Each character is introduced in his or her own storyline, and none of them seems to match up. This “introductory” sequence lasts for nearly half the film’s running time, and at times is downright exasperating.

This is unfortunate, because the characters and the actors playing them are all great.

James Spader is the best of the lot, as the precise and thoroughly psychotic hitman Lee Woods. He gives his victims one more minute of life before he pulls the trigger — a minute he times with a stopwatch.

Danny Aiello is also sharp as a washed-up mafia hitter, and Jeff Daniels is great in a peripheral role as a cop who has completely lost his sanity. Newcomer Charlize Theron makes a major splash as Spader’s Norwegian moll. Their scenes together are probably the best in the film.

The rest of the cast is made up of recognizable faces, from Teri Hatcher to Eric Stoltz to Marsha Mason. The caliber of the cast indicates that Herzfeld pitched this as an actor’s film, one in which the cast could really cut loose and everyone gets some choice moments.

There are some choice moments indeed, but overall the film is uneven.

One puzzling element is the attempted comedy, which is sitcom-level at best and totally out of place. Rather than play up the grotesque events of the film as black comedy — as Pulp Fiction did so well — Herzfeld goes for cheap pratfalls and silliness.

Boy, seeing Aiello’s toupee fly off sure is a hoot — especially for the third time.

2 Days in the Valley just doesn’t have the snap or the vision of, well, Pulp Fiction, which it clearly tries to emulate.

But it may be worth a look for fans of the genre. Just don’t go in expecting too much.

2 Days in the Valley earns its R rating, containing considerable violence, sex and foul language.