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Diamond Men

Diamond Men

List Price: $9.98
Your Price: $9.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A real sleeper--well-written, superbly acted.
Review: "Diamond Men" is one of those low-budget charmers that inhabits its own little world, far away from Hollywood glitz, and does so very persuasively. Eddie, a diamond salesman with 30 years' experience, can no longer get insured for the road after a heart attack, so his only chance to stay in business is to train his young, hotdogging replacement, Bobby. The first half of the movie is about the clash between wise, low-key Eddie and brash, fun-loving Bobby, and the unlikely friendship that arises between them. The second half--most of which takes place, improbably, in a backwoods massage parlor--has more to do with the reawakening of love and hope. Unfortunately, it also leads to a twist ending that feels rather cheap after the sharp authenticity of what has come before. One could also complain about the low budget showing in the occasionally rough photography and editing. Nevertheless, "Diamond Men" is well worth seeing for its needle-sharp dialogue and memorable characters. The lead performers are superb. Robert Forster--an actor who projects both imperturbable cool and rock-solid decency--is the perfect Eddie, and Donnie Wahlberg--Mark's brother and a former New Kid on the Block--is the archetypal lovable scamp as Bobby.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A real sleeper--well-written, superbly acted.
Review: "Diamond Men" is one of those low-budget charmers that inhabits its own little world, far away from Hollywood glitz, and does so very persuasively. Eddie, a diamond salesman with 30 years' experience, can no longer get insured for the road after a heart attack, so his only chance to stay in business is to train his young, hotdogging replacement, Bobby. The first half of the movie is about the clash between wise, low-key Eddie and brash, fun-loving Bobby, and the unlikely friendship that arises between them. The second half--most of which takes place, improbably, in a backwoods massage parlor--has more to do with the reawakening of love and hope. Unfortunately, it also leads to a twist ending that feels rather cheap after the sharp authenticity of what has come before. One could also complain about the low budget showing in the occasionally rough photography and editing. Nevertheless, "Diamond Men" is well worth seeing for its needle-sharp dialogue and memorable characters. The lead performers are superb. Robert Forster--an actor who projects both imperturbable cool and rock-solid decency--is the perfect Eddie, and Donnie Wahlberg--Mark's brother and a former New Kid on the Block--is the archetypal lovable scamp as Bobby.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A simple twist
Review: Diamond men is a simple film. A simple premise, simple script, a simple cast. What makes it entertaining is the splot twist in the end and robert forsters acting, which i love. The rest of the film is not that amazing, the problem being, its just not original. The premise of diamond selling is unique but it would have been cooler if they were diamond thiefs instead of legit salesmen. Oh well- its entertaining for popcorn film watching on a cozy friday night with the kids or loved one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A rewarding "small film" which might surprise you
Review: Diamond Men is the kind of "small independent film" that warms your heart through its superb casting and acting for a very human story. The main character is an aging diamond salesman who, after surviving a heart attack, fears he will be replaced by a younger employee whom he is asked to mentor. The duo make a unlikely pair and the unfolding of their relationship is one of the most effective parts of this movie. Without revealing the rest of the plot (although you may well get this from other reviews), let me add that you will be won over by other secondary characters in this film and its finale. Robert Forster's performance in the lead role is outstanding.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A rewarding "small film" which might surprise you
Review: Diamond Men is the kind of "small independent film" that warms your heart through its superb casting and acting for a very human story. The main character is an aging diamond salesman who, after surviving a heart attack, fears he will be replaced by a younger employee whom he is asked to mentor. The duo make a unlikely pair and the unfolding of their relationship is one of the most effective parts of this movie. Without revealing the rest of the plot (although you may well get this from other reviews), let me add that you will be won over by other secondary characters in this film and its finale. Robert Forster's performance in the lead role is outstanding.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A very fine character study film
Review: DIAMOND MEN. When did it hit the screens in the malls? This is one of those many small films that don't get sufficient hype to stay longer than a week in the consumer market movie houses, yet end up being almost cult favorites when they hit the DVD stores. Though on the surface this is the story of two men who sell diamonds on the road, stopping in little mom and pop jewelry stores in Pennsylvania. The interesting aspect is that one is an older man forced into retirement by corporate conglomerate downsizing after thirty years of zenith service, and who has incidentally lost his wife to cancer) and the other a frisky young whippersnapper whose brain is less on learning the ropes from his mentor than it is on the available women to satisfy his lusts along the road. The story is a gradual unfolding of acceptance of each other, despite the polarities, and it is this growth into mutual respect that makes this film a tour de force for actors. Robert Forster and Donnie Wahlberg are pitch perfect in their very human, very warm, natural and low-key manner of acting. They make us (and nearly everyone they encounter over a 4 week period) love them. The ending has a terrific turn that punctuates just how great an influence these men have on each other. Terrific acting, a great script, and a director unfraid to address the issue of male bonding. Highly Recommended.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: hang out with two jewelry salesmen in small-ish town PA
Review: Excellent film, you see some resemblance to Wahlberg's little brother Mark, in his ability to play an understanding, sympathetic character--and someone you can empthasize with as well. Two salesmen, one old and one in his late 20's are paired up, in order to give the new recruit experience. Will they get along? Is the old man training his replacement? All we know is, the old timer himself still needs a job-and we don't know if he'll have one at the end of the movie.

Touching film with some twists, laughs and tears.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A sleeper to sleep to
Review: I coudn't finish this film, and I didn't think it was interesting at all. Honestly, the acting seemed forced, and there wasn't any sort of play between Robert Forster and Donnie Wahlberg, which seemed to be the main focus of this film. Just a seriously calmed down older guy and a cliché young guy who wants to have sex with every girl he meets. Most of what happened in this movie felt unnatural to me, and never surreal enough for that fact not to matter. At least take the time to learn what to expect if you plan on watching this, because it sure didn't grab me at all.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good Movie - OK DVD
Review: I enjoyed this movie and I would recommend it. Forrester carries this movie, if you liked him in Jackie Brown, then you will like him in this.

On the downside, I was not entirely happy with the DVD. The Anamorphic disc is a bit misleading, as you actually see more on the 4:3 setting of your DVD Player. If you have a 16:9 TV as I do, it ends up clipping off the top and bottom of the picture, including some of the captions (aka "Week 1" etc). In some scenes you can tell the tops of peoples heads are being clipped.

Even worse, the commentary, which I enjoyed, refers in some scenes to what you see in the "widescreen print" of the film but even at 16:9 setting, you do not see these things on this DVD.

If they ever make a new transfer of this movie from the widescreen print, I would increase my rating of that DVD to 4 stars.

I find it suprising that with two prints of the film, they would choose the lower aspect ratio one to make to DVD, and then worse than that, they then chose to master the DVD in 4:3 with letterbox and then have use the anamorphic feature to clip the 4:3 letterbox version to a 16:9 view. This is exactly backwords. Let the DVD player add the extra black letterbox for the 4:3 folks and give full fidelity to people with 16:9 TVs. Happily, not many movies are transfered this way.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Diamond Men is a real gem
Review: I particularly liked this movie because it is a strong and interesting story about people I could know. Its not set in some fantasy world, but in small town America. It addresses real problems that we encounter;like losing your job and having to train your younger replacement, with empathy and wit and keen psychological insight. Its only weakness is that it is not slickly filmed, but the content and acting performances far outweight the cinematic special effects.
Its a film I have thought about a lot since I first viewed it last summer at a preview for a film class I attend. I have since voted it my personal favorite film for the year of all the films we viewed.


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