I just didn't understand what the idea was behind this film. Three guys (led by Matt Dillon and Gary Sinise) botch a robbery, get chased by the police, and end up in a bar. The problem for them is the police are actually chasing someone else, and mistake Dillon's crew for the guy they want. So the police cover the bar and Dillon and his crew take the bar patrons hostage and decide what they want to do. So ok, a think plot but that's ok. I know in movies like this, it's the acting, the characters that are important. The plot is almost secondary. But this film just dragged on and on. Everything was very deliberate to the point of annoyance. Albino Alligator is the directorial debut of actor Kevin Spacey (Academy Award winner from The Usual Suspects). Many actors over the years have become successful directors (Kevin Costner for Dances With Wolves and Mel Gibson for Braveheart to name a couple). Kevin Spacey needs a little more work. First of all the script wasn't that strong. All the characters seemed to be stereotyped. Out of the three bad guys, one was a sociopath, one was a leader but without real brains, and one was the brains. The hostages included one woman who wouldn't stop talking when she was asked, a kid, and a couple extras who were just there for show. And the directing style tried too hard to look cool. There were shots in the film that were just unneccesary. I imagine that Spacey got the job because the studio wanted him for other films, so they let him direct. Every director needs a break somewhere, I just hope if he directs again, it gets a little better.