Who is Cletis Tout? is a 2001 crime comedy film written and directed by Chris Ver Wiel and starring Christian Slater, Richard Dreyfuss, and Tim Allen. The film is about mistaken identity getting in the way of recovering a stash of diamonds that was stolen and subsequently hidden more than 20 years earlier.
The film is told primarily in flashback, as the film first follows a hitman, Critical Jim (Tim Allen), who follows and holds at gunpoint a man he believes is Cletis Tout - but who actually is Finch (Christian Slater). Because Critical Jim is so fond of film noir and other classic films (such as Casablanca and Breakfast at Tiffany's), he's willing to listen to Finch as he tells his story, imagining it as a film in progress. Finch obliges, explaining how he got to be mistaken for Cletis Tout.
Finch happened to be in the same jail with Micah (Richard Dreyfuss), who stole diamonds more than 20 years before, then hid the diamonds and soon landed in prison. With Finch's help, Micah manages to break out, and the two get new identities for themselves, courtesy of a coroner (Billy Connolly) who owes Finch a favor.
The problem is that Finch's new identity is that of Cletis Tout, a
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