Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A reality beyond the eyes can see, May 2, 2003
It is very difficult to show something that is hidden and in front of our faces. Sometimes this matter takes a sensionality show like a playing game, other times the director can not transmit the real and invisible world. However this is not the case of this film. It is very precise and perfect in the message. This film shows us what we can not see with our common eyes. Another level of what is real. Everything may be programmed and exactly directed to a certain target. We normally see the effects and not the cause. People that enjoyed Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick, American Psycho will certainly enjoy this excellent movie.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some Incisive Moments, but Mostly Meandering., August 5, 2004
Eli Wurman (Al Pacino) is a down-and-out New York publicist whose career has seen better days. Once the friend and confidant of the entertainment elite, he has only one remaining A-list client, playboy movie star Cary Launer (Ryan O'Neal). Undaunted in his support of humanitarian causes, Eli insists that Cary speak at a charity benefit that he is organizing when Cary asks him to do some dirty work -bail a girlfriend out of jail. After bailing Jilly (Tea Leoni) out, Eli reluctantly takes her to look for an important item that she has lost. The next day, while frantically trying to organize his charity benefit, a drug-addled Eli tries to piece together what he saw the night before and what it might mean.
"People I Know" is a hybrid political thriller and character study. As a political thriller it's interesting, but not thrilling enough. It spares no one in its revelation of the hypocrisy and abuse of power behind a New York Senate race. The indictment of the city's most prominent citizens, although obviously unrealistic, is unsettling enough to be interesting. The film's best scenes feature Richard Schiff being ruthless as eminent businessman Elliot Sharansky. Al Pacino's Eli Wurman doesn't fare so well. The film takes place over a period of only about 26 hours, during which Eli is unraveling, both emotionally and physically, all while organizing a benefit and getting caught up in political intrigues beyond his control. I wish the film had the urgency that the situation implies. Eli still has a salesman's pitch, but is drug-dependent and only intermittently lucid. This doesn't really work. It makes him difficult to watch and only passively involved in what's going on. It doesn't help that Pacino's Georgian accent is as inconsistent as his character's thought processes. "People I Know", like Eli, has some moments of clarity, but it needed to be a lot tighter.
The DVD: Bonus features include 2 deleted scenes, with commentary, and an audio commentary by director Dan Algrant and Gregory Mosher, who has nothing to do with the film. Mosher is a writer and director himself and must be a friend of Algrant's. This arrangement works better than I might expect. Mosher is able to point out elements of the film from the perspective of a viewer, which Algrant can then comment on. The commentary is about filming -the actors, make-up, wardrobe, anecdotes, etc.- not about the film's themes. It's a reasonably good commentary.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Politics, drugs and questionable ethics -- at a frantic pace, September 28, 2004
This 2002 film stars Al Pacino. Yes, that's right, All Pacino. Then how come I never heard about it until I saw a trailer on a DVD I recently rented? How come it didn't last in the theaters? I don't have an answer to that because I believe that if it had the right publicity it might have done better in the box office department.
Talking about publicity, it seems ironic but this is what the film is about. Al Pacino is cast as Eli Wurman, an aging New York publicist who is planning a fundraiser. It's for the kind of cause, however, that has seen its glory in the 1960s, and the cause seems old and tired, as does Eli. With the skill of a good makeup artist, Pacino looks dissipated. He has sagging jowls and dark bags under his eyes. But his voice is strong and, in spite of the fact that the character he portrays is constantly popping tremendous amounts of prescription drugs, his strong personality comes through. There's a frantic pace about this film, which includes politics, drugs and questionable ethics.
Kim Bassinger plays his sister-in-law who gives him a chance at another way of life. Tea Leoni plays a high-priced model who's hooked on every kind of drug imaginable and who's the girlfriend of a politician. Then there are the real life newscasters and personalities who all make their entrance to give the film it's gritty reality, such as former NY City Police chief William Bratton, TV host Regis Philbin, critic Rex Reed and newscaster Pat Kiernan to name just a few.
I liked the New York scene the film portrayed. I thought the acting was wonderful, especially Pacino. The story was fast-paced and held my interest. And I felt some real emotion for Pacino's character. Recommended.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
