Rating: 
Summary: Obvious, Obvious Obvious
Review: The plot twists in Mamet's screenplay were easily telescopic. I watched the film on IFC. There were typical movie cliches punchuated throughtout the film. One of the biggest cliches in movies is the phony police/FBI/Fed scam. This is were someone believes they are dealing authenic authorities. But he never meets them at the local police station or federal building. Meetings take place in restaurants, wharehouses and docks. I had actually figured out the scam in the first 20 minutes. I kept watching because I thought the film would have a hugh payoff at the end. I was dissapointed. That's too bad because there was an opportunity for the hunted to become the hunter. That I think that ending would have been more satisfying. And in a way, would have justified some of the earlier lapses in logic. I gave the film 3 stars because it still held my attend with it's dialog. The film seemed very whimsical up to point I realized how dangerous the bad guys really were. That helped put a sour note on the film overall.
Rating: 
Summary: Steve Martin gives a shameful comedic performance
Review: I actually saw this movie thinking it was going to be funny (since it starred Steve Martin). Aren't I dumb?! As a mystery/thriller, it's very complexing and could have a dozen different meanings to it. That's the fun part; it's up to YOU to decide what the ending all means. It's YOUR time, now, buster! YOU've got the floor! Bruce Campbell Scott gives a quietly touching performance. Steve Martin's role is totally unfunny and he didn't make me laugh once (which is probably because he wasn't given a funny dialogue; it's the screenwriter's fault! Boo the screenwriter! Hooray for the director, though).
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful plot-twisting film!
Review: Fantastic mystery! All the right plot twists to make this highly entertaining. One word of advice to people who haven't seen it yet: DO NOT TURN IT OFF! The first 45 minutes of the movie seem so bizarre and boring that you will think it's a terrible movie and will want to turn it off. Stop yourself!! Trust me, it will all come together in the second half. If you like this movie, I highly recommend "The Game" with Michael Douglas and "A Fish Called Wanda" with Jamie Lee Curtis.
Rating:
Summary: Certain plot turns seem unexplainable ...
Review: I have always been intrigued by movies and TV shows that deal with con artistry, a field I could not venture into in a million years. The Spanish Prisoner is an extremely intruiging movie that holds up after multiple viewings, thanks to the excellent acting from the entire ensemble, the ominously effective score, and the movie's visual design. However, watching the protagonist and the con artists chase each other through an increasingly bizarre maze, a few plot turns just don't add up (and are not clarified after repeated viewings). The "big switch" of the book is never made clear, but it undoubtedly occurs in the men's room - although Joe Ross's eye barely turns away from the book, and then only for a second. The entire Boston scene begs further explanation - as every move by Ross is spontaneous, how did everyone know where everyone would end up? At first I thought he has already been secretly bugged, but the bug is attached to his jacket on the boat. Elsewhere, Joe Ross seems to make some very dumb moves, but that is part of his greedy character - and don't forget, the con artists must change direction in anticipation of, and reaction to, his moves. No con is foolproof - there is only the hope that the mark will "cooperate" throughout the endeavor. Joe Ross proves to be the perfect mark.
Rating:
Summary: A twisty thriller, Mamet-style
Review: For those of you who bemoaned the fact that David Mamet didn't make another movie soon after the psychological thriller "House of Games," this movie is for you. Well-acted, well-directed, this movie has a pace that moves along just ahead of you, never letting you see around the bend. Who is good? Who is evil? And is our protagonist, played by the wonderful indie actor Campbell Scott, losing his mind? Part of the intrigue of this movie is that it never gives away too much--for instance, you never do find out what the mysterious documents are that Campbell Scott is trying so hard to recapture. And while the turnaround of one of the characters is forecase somewhat, hold onto your seat--there's another surprise coming. This is an intelligent, swift-moving psychological drama. Mamet throws away most of the profanity of his plays in favor of character development and suspense.
Rating:
Summary: It's Mamet? It's Hitchcock? Stop -- You're both right.
Review: At this point, for a contemporary filmmaker to "do a Hitchcock", it has become necessary for said filmmaker to understand all the cliches that come with that territory. And to further understand that if used, those cliches will stick out like a sore thumb (for example). The contemporary filmmaker must not try and avoid the use of those cliches (for that will surely let the audience down), but revel in them to the point where they become grandiose, distracting the viewer from the inherent holes in the plot that inevitably hinders such an endeavor. These aren't my rules, mind you. I'm just transcribing what was obviously on David Mamet's mind when conceiving "The Spanish Prisoner". He starts out with a classic Hitchcock MacGuffin: The Process, which (in conjunction with the Formula and the Company) gets Joe Ross (Campbell Scott) in more trouble than he can handle. We are never told what the Process is, or even how much wealth it will generate. In fact, it is made obvious that information is being withheld (witness the scene where Ross writes a figure on a blackboard -- projected earnings for the Company -- where all we see is the leading dollar sign), so much so that it frees us from trying to deduce any further. Relax and enjoy the plot, Mamet says. And a fine plot it is, shaped like a Mobius strip, where just when you think you've figured out who the good guys are, the thing flips over to reveal that there's more to it on the underside. It nearly got to the point where the whole enterprise became tiresome, and I just wanted to know who really set poor Joe up. Even though the ending was kind of clumsy, I was glad that it came when it did. I guess what really elevates the piece over other faux-Hitchcockian works is the dialogue. To state the obvious, Mamet has a wonderful flair for language. Here, he's toned down his patented rat-a-tat-tat patter. It still takes a while to get used to its artificial rhythms, but about a third of the way through, it becomes relaxed and musical. A real joy. It should also be noted that Mamet acquits himself well as a director. His camera shows us just enough so that we think we've gotten the whole picture, but haven't really at all. The performers, for the most part, are rather effective. Campbell Scott is in every scene, and does a fine job as the innocent caught in the con. Steve Martin is understated to the point of being laconic, a perfect choice for his character. Ben Gazzara, Ricky Jay, and Felicity Huffman make the best of their minor roles (although Jay's character seems to be little more than a collection of epigrams for the cynical capitalist). Rebecca Pidgeon (Mrs. Mamet), on the other hand, is horrible. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Well, not really. In the beginning, she is kind of clunky. Her character is nothing more than an awkward vessel for exposition. And she hasn't the flair for her husband's dialogue that the other actors do. But her role turns meaty enough as we move along, and she eventually gets the hang of things. Still, I think the movie would have been better served overall if she'd switch roles with Huffman, an actress who has proven, on Aaron Sorkin's Mametesque sitcom 'SportsNight' (R.I.P.), to have a flair for this kind of dialogue. Even though quite flawed at times, I found myself (literally) on the edge of my seat throughout the entire third act. It's a wonderfully conceived and executed movie that, even though it has Mamet's fingerprints all over it, would've made Hitch proud.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is a excellent film. Well cast. Well acted. Close attention to detail. I loved it.
Rating:
Summary: The Breath of Suspension, or: Hitchcock Redux
Review: In a delightful cameo with Ed O'Neill, writer/director David Mamet attempts to clarify his film's obscure title, though requiring several hits of the << button to muddle through the logic of said "clarification." O'Neill's character (a suave, self-assured FBI team leader) alludes to the great conspiracy-theory behind Alexandre Dumas's *The Count of Monte Cristo* (better known to close readers of Joyce's *Portrait of the Artist* and *Ulysses* (i.e. the Ithaca section, pg 718)). A dying fellow-prisoner (a "learned Italian") tells the novel's protagonist of his vast fortune on the island of Monte Cristo, who arranges to be "buried" at sea in the dead prisoner's place, escaping a watery grave to claim the latter's fortune and title. Wha? As you might imagine, the scene moves much too quickly for the gears of comprehension to spin full circle, but hey, welcome to David Mamet country, where plots tangle, egos wrangle, and conspiracies are flooding every shore! The story itself seems conventional enough, knowingly Hitchcockian, the exploitation of our hero Joe Ross (played by an extraordinary Campbell Scott, whose dramatic presence I'd never guessed at) and his much-sought-after MacGuffin, a mathematical "Process" bound in red boards "on uncopyable paper." But the film's real mainspring is the mind of Mamet himself, who's invested every scene, every transition, every tableau with an intelligence and cool brilliance that puts the West Coast assembly-line to shame. His cinematographic handling of Manhattan in particular, one of the most over-filmed locations next to Los Angeles, is luridly and bewitchingly original, with certain scenes so crisp and dark they make you want to get on a bus to Gotham to go in search of Mamet's dream city which, sadly, really isn't there. Witness the moody soft-lit darkwood-paneled interior of Joe Ross's company quarters, or the secluded back-alley ramp leading to a by-appointment car dealership, or the saturnine temporary office-space of Jimmy Dell's corporate den. Extraordinary lighting, location dressing, and set construction on a tight budget. *The Spanish Prisoner* is also one of the most perfectly casted films I've seen in years. Just as a great novelist is compelled to portray his most minor characters in a vividly distinctive light, so every role and every actor in this film is vouchsafed a chilling memorability and luster. Just witness Jon Katz's (of Comedy Central's *Dr. Katz* fame) three or four lines in barely two scenes, or the bookbinder sequence, or the antique-car dealership scene ("by appointment only, sir"), or the cool-handed Japanese "tourist" of the film's denouement. Mamet's wife Rebecca Pidgeon has taken a lot of unnecessary abuse for her frisky, kittenish performance as the coolly evil postmodern temptress Susan Ricci. But I'm compelled to controvert these viewers. Even more disheartening are those who've cynically rejected Steve Martin's breakthrough contribution, who, notwithstanding the somewhat predictable climax, succeeds as a devilishly likable information-criminal and sociopath. Pure genius for Mamet to perceive the dark potential of his multi-talented fellow-playwright. Man with two brains, indeed. Only at the end do we realize that this is an remarkably "low-budget" film. No chase scenes, no pyrotechnics, no slow-motion body-morphing or Keanu stand-ins firing a Gatling-gun from an Apache helicopter while jump-kicking security-officers through plate glass, et al. Mamet's achievement is one of diamond-hard intelligence and ingenuity, near-flawless direction of a charming cast, and the transmutation of hackneyed Hitchcockian precepts into a wonderfully fresh and understated suspense-thriller. And while weapons *do* appear and *are* brandished, the only shot fired is that of a State Marshal's tranquilizer rifle! Mamet must have sat down to write *The Spanish Prisoner* with the stipulation that "the only weapons I'm going to allow my characters are purely dramatic and psychological ones." Perhaps all screenwriters should start out as playwrights. Learn to construct compelling characters and dialogue first, then invoke the stunt coordinator and the demolition man and the body doubles, if your producers would have it so. A few qualms, however.... In the aforementioned Monte Cristo scene, Ed O'Neill's character takes the Process away from Joe Ross, placing it close-by on a ledge beneath his walkie-talkie. Without giving the scene away, several rewindings have invalidated the occult "logic" of this episode, which rather undermines the viewer's suspension-of-disbelief. Also, when Ross signs a membership application at the enigmatic dinner-club, I swear that the lettering on the document's banner is different from the one that appears later in the film! Is Mamet taking us into the addled mind of his protagonist, or simply trying to precipitate us past the technical failings of his (otherwise tautly reasoned) screenplay? But I wouldn't want this to deter anyone from renting or otherwise getting their hands on this film. *The Spanish Prisoner* is especially valuable to television producers, showing them a way to create intelligent and original crime drama *sans* pyro canisters, blank ammunition, perfunctory love-scenes (Mamet has written an entire essay denouncing these), or even stuntmen! Excellent work, Dave.
Rating:
Summary: JCMICHAELS.COM The Spanish Prisoner Review
Review: The Spanish Prisoner is a streamlined movie without a lot of frivolous scenes. It seems that everything from a picture taken to a casual conversation with a stranger holds meaning and will ultimately show up in the conclusion. It is wonderfully thought provoking and detailed with likable, naïve and misguided characters that iron out the twisting plot in comprehendible style. The characters play their roles to perfection, from a nervous workaholic, to a rich traveler, to a completely clueless secretary. David Mamet's brilliant character development and story progression is one thing missing in many of today's high budget star studded films. This movie on the other hand stays true to the theme and offers realistic casting. Overall, this film is one of the best I have seen in some time and I strongly suggest it be at least seen, if not purchased immediately. If you like a plot in your movies this is the one to see.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting.
Review: If you liked "The Usual Suspects," you might enjoy this film. You won't find violence or strong language, just an interesting plot. Steve Martin pulls off the serious role of Jimmy Dell surprisingly well, considering his comedic background. I admit, I kept expecting him to crack jokes throughout the film. Campell Scott was convincing enough, though I am admittantly not a fan of Rebecca Pidgeon. This film is more suspenseful than anything, and does leave more than a few "but how...?" questions in the mind of the viewer once the credits roll. A second viewing is helpful in picking up those "clues" one often misses the first time through. Still, it's worth the rental. I'd advise against buying until you've seen it, however, as it's not the sort of film I could sit and watch often.
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