Four yuppie friends (Henry Thomas, Jeremy Sisto, Sean Patrick Flanery and Jay Mohr) put their their lives in jeopardy when they kidnap a mobster (Christopher Walken, stealing the show), hoping to use him to get to the abductor of one of their sisters.

Then they make the fatal mistake of chopping off one of his fingers ('If I don't bleed to death, pretty soon I'm gonna die of boredom! ').

Denis Leary also scores with his comic character turn as Walken's henchman in a darkly entertaining thriller that is stronger on laughs than tension.

The title refers to the King of Hearts, who can be seen on playing cards plunging a sword into his own head. Three different endings were shot, the release version being the one that tested best with preview audience. (The other versions are on the DVD.)