SWIMMING WITH SHARKS
Writer: George Huang Director: George Huang Producer: Steve Alexander & Joanne Moore
Characters: Kevin Spacey - Buddy Ackerman Frank Whaley - Guy Michelle Forbes - Dawn Lockard Benicio Del Toro - Rex
Review:
I don't know why, but this hasn't been an easy review to write. Maybe part of it is that I'm sort of divided about why I like it (and there are lots of acceptable reasons, believe me). The original reason it interested me is that Kevin Spacey is the star. I first heard of this movie (and first watched it) the day after I saw the Usual Suspects for the first time, and for those of you who have seen that, you know Spacey is unbelievable (and so does the Academy, come to think of it).
After I started watching this, I found another good reason to like it -- Benicio Del Toro (also in Usual Suspects). He has a really small part (probably less than 5 minutes of screen time), but he manages to do a lot with it, as he so often does. Del Toro's exit is about the time the movie begins to get extremely funny.
This film is billed as a comedy, and it definitely has some pretty strong elements of the dark variety. However, I have always been more of the mind that the dark and non-comedic elements tend to overshadow the dark and comedic elements. Actually, in that way it reminds me of "In the Company of Men" (an excellent movie, by the way). It's undeniably funny, though it's a somewhat guilty sort of humor. And then, before you really notice, it's suddenly disturbing and not-at-all funny and you realize that it hasn't actually been funny for a while.
The plot, basically, is this: Guy (Whaley) is a small-town kid who comes to Hollywood to work for Buddy Ackerman (Spacey), a big-shot producer. The job turns out to be a total nightmare, as Guy has found his boss to be demanding, obnoxious, and utterly devoid of any respect for him or anything else. Amidst much on-the-job yelling and ridicule, Guy's resentment grows and grows until he finds himself taking his boss hostage and torturing him. This happens in the first 5 minutes, however -- the whole movie is a flashback.
Not knowing how to say what I want to say about this movie has caused me to ramble on for quite a while, so I will try to sum this up now. The first 2/3 of this movie are incredibly funny dark comedy which I imagine Kevin Spacey enjoyed heartily. As is customary in such a film, there is some moderately disturbing stuff going on, but it's all in good fun. I'm honestly not sure what it is about this movie that makes me like it so much, but if you like Kevin Spacey and aren't bothered by black comedy, it's well worth your time. I recommend it quite highly.
- John Roberdeau
- john@dvdfuture.com
- http://www.dvdfuture.com/
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