Safe Men

Sam and Eddie are two aspiring singers with more enthusiasm than talent. After another failed performance, they cross paths with a small-time mobster who mistakes them for a pair of skilled safe crackers. Faced with threats from the local underworld, the duo is forced to take on a job far beyond their abilities, which puts them in conflict with the actual professional criminals they have been mistaken for. The daughter of a crime boss complicates matters, since she refuses to date men she believes are gangsters.

Safe Men, released in 1998, is the feature directing debut of John Hamburg, who also wrote the screenplay. The cast is led by Sam Rockwell and Steve Zahn, with Mark Ruffalo, Josh Pais, Paul Giamatti and Michael Schmidt in supporting roles. Hamburg went on to direct Along Came Polly, I Love You, Man, Why Him? and Me Time before Focker-in-Law in 2026.

The film was made on a budget of about 1 million US dollars, a modest figure reflected in its small scale. On IMDb it holds a rating of 5.8 from roughly 3,800 votes, and on TMDB a rating of 5.5 from a small number of votes. A film critics' rating of 6.1 from 21 reviews places it slightly above both audience scores.