SWIMMING WITH SHARKS (1995) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1997 Ted Prigge
Writer/Director: George Huang Starring: Kevin Spacey, Frank Whaley, Michelle Forbes, Benicio Del Toro
I hated my last boss. I mean it. He was a giant schmuck who, after two years of service, one of them being without a doubt the most competent worker in my field of work, gave me a total of five raises, culminating at the current minimum wage while my peers were being promoted to the better next level (cook - I was a busboy, by the way). He was also too moody, often acting like a total asshole, which was different than him being only a quarter of an asshole the rest of the time. I mean, I was afraid to even approach this guy to tell him the sink was clogged. I know that if I had the chance to literally bit the shit out of him without anyone knowing about it and no repurcussions for my actions, I would have done it.
That's what this film does...well, sorta. It also gives a satirical look at Hollywood, but it seemed only secondary to the whole "My boss is an asshole!" spiel. Watching the abused employee finally enact his revenge on his sadistic, immature boss throughout the film, between flashbacks, is one of the most entertaining things I've ever seen. Of course, not all of the film is as good as watching this and laughing at the boss mock the employee.
Frank Whaley plays a hopeful filmmaker, and recent graduate of film school, who lands a temporary desk job at a film company, acting as the secreatary to one of the executives of the company, Buddy (Kevin Spacey, the year he was in four films and became a superstar and in one of his most memorably flawless performances). The outgoing secretary (Benicio Del Toro, stealing scenes as usual) warns him that he'll become a bitter, coffee-downing, chain-smoking nervous wreck but will finally settle into cynicism, but Frank's optimistic.
Then he meets Buddy.
Buddy is the most childish excuse for a man. A selfish, immature asshole who makes my boss look like Mother Teresa (God rest her overlooked soul, since Di's death overshadowed that of the most selfless, caring person since Jesus). He humiliates him from the first sentence, and mocks him sadistically throughout the film, uses him for his own personal gain, treats him like a slave, and drives him into near insanity.
Also going on in poor Frank's life is a relationship with another selfish woman (Michelle Forbes), who is also in the film business, has slept her way to the top, and may be using Frank to sleep her way into Buddy's services. But she claims to really care about him, even when he's sleeping into insanity and possible homicidal tendencies.
In the beginning (and gradually throughout the film, since the past is told through flashbacks), Frank walks into Buddy's house with a gun, ties him down to a chair, and proceeds to torture him in some original and not-so-original ways (to get an idea how cool it is, he uses an envelope to give him some uncomfortable paper cuts). The plot twists a bit, we laugh some more, then things get dark and kinda depressing.
While the torture scenes and flashbacks are well done, the ending is too dark for what happens. It works well, but this whole obsession with being brooding and overly serious doesn't mesh well with the black comedy of the first hour or so. But other than that, this is a really funny black comedy that satisfies anyone's needs to ever beat up their awful, power-hungry bosses. And, it even says a bit about how horrible those nasty Hollywood-ites. But, we all knew that anyway, didn't we?
MY RATING (out of 4): ***
Homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8335/
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