Swimming with Sharks

Rating:
Summary: Welcome To The Dark Side
Review: In an upscale neighborhood near Hollywood, a covered body on a stretcher is being removed from a house while a dismayed young man named Guy (Frank Whaley) looks on. Thus begins "Swimming With Sharks," a veritable survival guide for those who would venture into the cold and often dangerous waters of film making. Guy is a recent film school graduate who has landed a job at Keystone Pictures as the gofer assistant to none other than the legendary power player Buddy Ackerman (Played exuberantly by Kevin Spacey), one of the top producers at Keystone. Guy is replacing Rex (Benicio Del Toro) who is leaving to take a position at Paramount. During Guy's orientation on his first day, Rex tells him "This in not a business, this is show business. Punching below the belt in not only alright, it's rewarded," and with that, the tone is set for much of what follows. But not everything. Buddy, we quickly learn, is the boss nobody would ever want. At his best, he is unpleasant; at his worst, which is most of the time, he is abusive in the extreme. He seems to take perverse delight in assigning Catch-22 directives to his underlings (He tells Guy to hold his calls while he is in a meeting; when Guy doesn't put the calls through he is admonished for it). His most prolific tool of management is the beguiling phrase "Shut up, listen, and learn," which he applies frequently to the hapless Guy. Of course, there is only so much one man can take, and early on we realize that Guy is in the process of exacting his revenge. Through flashbacks the story unfolds, and Guy's motivation becomes crystal clear. A situation to which many can relate, it is readily understandable how he has arrived at the position in which he finds himself with Buddy, and when you realize that Guy has crossed that line beyond which there is no return it evokes that sense of loss one feels for the doomed, and you wonder why things have to be like this. In "Swimming With Sharks," writer and first time director George Huang serves up a delectable sampling of the smorgasbord that is Hollywood, complete with the bitters he adds to the twist at the end, which may leave you somewhat taken aback. The supporting cast includes Michelle Forbes (in a noteworthy turn as producer Dawn Lockard, who comes to Guy and Buddy's table at what can only be termed an inopportune juncture), T.E. Russell as Foster Kane, and Roy Dotrice as Cyrus Miles. To those who love movies, this film offers some insight into what it takes to bring those coveted images to the screen; but it is also an excursion into the dark side of Man's nature.

Rating:
Summary: CLASSIC SPACEY...
Review: Kevin Spacey is magnificent as always in this quirky, black comedy. Shown in flashbacks and "the now", Spacey is an abusive boss finally confronted by his assistant. It's hilarious and has a great surprise ending. This is classic Kevin Spacey--he's absolutely brilliant, witty and cold as ice in this film.

Rating:
Summary: Oops, I misrated this one
Review: Have to offer my apologies for giving this film three stars. As I watched on TV I must have missed one key line that was important in the end of this film. That's why the end did not make much sence to me. Very sorry for being so stupid. I am glad I had a chance to watch it again. This film is a real masterpiece!

Rating:
Summary: absolutely awful
Review: "black comedy", "dark comedy"? i don't think so. it was awful. kevin spacey certainly has his moments, but not enough of them to warrant renting it. don't waste your time.

Rating:
Summary: Beware the EP mode
Review: This film is one of my favoite industry movies, BUT the copy I received is a poor EP mode copy. Grainy to the point of distraction, poor audio and more. Go for the 13.99 copy or the DVd.

Rating:
Summary: As Good as American Beauty
Review: American Beauty is by far one of my favorite films to watch, and the main reason is because it is so fun watching Spacey play with his characters. That is what Swimming with Sharks was like. I saw it a few weeks after A.B. came out, thinking that it wouldn't be much since it was before Spacey was really famous and it was a low budget movie. I was wrong. This movie equals to American Beauty in the sense that Kevin Spacey creates a character that you will never forget. Even if you hate this movie, you will have fun just watching Spacey get into his character, such as the jackass in this movie, Buddy Ackerman. This movie keeps you watching it the whole time and the dialogue is very funny and memorable! RENT THIS MOVIE

Rating:
Summary: One of his best!
Review: I have seen every movie he has ever been in, and this movie is in my top three favorites of his work. Plus the ending is a shocker!

Rating:
Summary: Shut up, listen and learn!
Review: That's Kevin Spacey's line throughout the entire film. This must be one of his best performances. He flawlessly delivered lines from the cleverly written script. I enjoy it everytime I see it! I just saw it for the fourth time last night.

Rating:
Summary: I hated it...
Review: If anyone thinks this movie is funny then I am depressed about the thinking in the world today. This was a depressing movie with sick torture scenes. In the movie 9 to 5 they tortured their boss too but it was light and funny. This was dark and depressing. Don't waste your time.

Rating:
Summary: Feeling sorry for yourself?
Review: A movie for losers-if you're dumb but well-groomed, bitter, enjoy feeling cheated and sorry for yourself, and have a great big sense of entitlement, you'll love this movie. (Very similar to "The Talented Mr. Ripley" in this respect.) It's a shame, because Spacey is awesome as usual, great, and his lines are all fantastic and in many instances profound. But the vile philosophy of this movie overrides that. Basically, this movie says that if you're a sensitive violet who isn't willing to work hard and suck it up, you're allowed to exact revenge for having your precious feelings hurt by physically and psychologically torturing-literally torturing-your boss, who in this case has never done anything to you but give you a job and offer you a lot of excellent, if hard-edged and often slightly uncomfortable advice and truths. And all this in the guise of workers-of-the-world-unite b.s. Bravo aired it tonight-they wouldn't air a snuff movie, but I guess this is allowed cause it's really just a snuff movie with a Harvard degree.