SUCKERS A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ***
Director Roger Nygard, whose last film was the hilarious documentary called TREKKIES, this time makes a fictional film, SUCKERS, about car salesmen. He said at our screening that the story was 95% based on real incidents and that his writing partner for the picture, Joe Yanetty, is an ex-car salesmen. The picture is such an honest and effective comedy that HBO has not only bought his movie, they've also committed to make a series based on it as well.
Bobby (Louis Mandylor) is an unemployed ex-truck driver who has two loan sharks after him. Facing financial ruin, he follows his wife's demands and takes a job at the automobile dealership where she works in the office.
At his Saturday morning sales meeting, the take-no-prisoners general manager, Reggie (Daniel Benzali), lectures his troops like General Patton. Nygard said the two films that influenced this picture the most were GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS and CLERKS. The foul-mouthed, scary and funny sales meeting certainly pays homage to the first of these two pictures.
The salesmen bet on everything and like nothing better than conning their customers out of their last nickel. Reggie preaches a simple, Ayn Rand philosophy of business conduct when dealing with buyers. "If he makes a good deal, he takes money out of your pocket," Reggie lectures his minions. "If you make a good deal, you take money out of his." Actually most of Reggie's comments are unprintable. He's also fond of sexual and racial jokes, but he doesn't discriminate, he points out, since he hates everyone. At the dealership, sexual activities are used among the sales force as the universal metaphor for car selling.
As much as it is easy to ridicule all of Reggie's advice, much of it applies to everyone with a sales job, although one hopes that most people in sales are a bit more humane. "When does the salesman's job start?" he asks his pupils. "The salesman's job starts when the customer says 'no,'" he tells them, answering his own question.
Many of the car selling techniques you probably have experienced yourself, but others may surprise you. One of the salesmen, JJ, played by BT, is actually a dead ringer for our last car salesman. JJ even had the same lovable, gregarious manner about him. The director said that they spent over three months in the casting of all of the parts so that the movie would feel genuine, which it does. I asked him if BT used to work as a car salesman in the Silicon Valley, but it turned out that he hadn't.
With so many variables involved (new car price, trade-in value, monthly payment, down payment, etc), the salesmen are able to bamboozle the buyers by constantly changing various combinations of them. And once the salesman has gotten the deal that he wants, he tries to switch the customers to a bad lease arrangement instead and make even more money. Playing good guy/bad guy, the salesmen, closers and managers leave the customers not knowing whether they are coming or going.
Eventually Bobby develops some second thoughts about his conduct. "We're so good at it that when we're done, they think we're heroes for doing it," he says in disgust of their manipulation of their customers. But Reggie sees life at the dealership as a daily fight for survival of the fittest. "Be the best you can be," he barks at his men. "Never apologize for it!" One thing is certain, the energetic movie tries hard to be the best that it can be, which is a lot of fun.
SUCKERS runs a lightning fast 1:27. It is not yet rated but will undoubtedly be an R for language, sex, nudity and violence. The film would be acceptable for older teenagers.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
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