Customer Reviews

The Prime Gig

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Prime Gig, directed by Gregory Mosher and written by Bill Wheeler, is good stuff. A sort of Mamet-esque tale of telemarketing and betrayal. Vince Vaughn and Julia Ormond do very good work together. Ed Harris, a favorite of mine, is not up to his usual standard here ... but is still delivers an acceptable performance.

Overall, the film works. It's quirky and suspenseful simultaneously, and although the plot seems familiar at first, Wheeler takes it in unexpected directions. Mosher's direction is also good, without pompously drawing attention to itself. A well-made film.

I almost cared about this movie. Almost. I mean, you can't go wrong with Vince Vaughn and Ed Harris, right?

Wrong.

The Prime Gig offers slices of entertainment that keep you modestly plugged into the movie, but ultimately, those slices are not enough to suffice. Characters come and go without us caring, and the main characters look as bored as we do. Vaughn plays a conman who goes to work for a master con-artist and ultimately meets his match. There's some attempts to make us care along the way, and some dialogue that tries to assert itself, but at the end of the day, we still don't care and strike 'The Prime Gig' from the first cut at the "Could Have Been a Cool Movie" tryouts.

There are certainly worse ways to spend 93 minutes -- just check out your local multiplex. Shellgames are never boring, and the ensemble cast is great (as they nearly always tend to be, in con movies). But, as others have pointed out, this one has more holes in it than a shower head. Shares in a gold mine? Pur-lease! Where is any telemarketer supposed to find marks dumb enough to buy those? Why would any telemarketer worth his salt waste his time trying? And, given that the Vince Vaughan character makes it quite clear he's only marrying the girl to help her get a green card (and therefore presumably wouldn't have dreamed of putting his money in a joint account and giving her sole signature over it), what bank would be inept enough to let her clean out his account just because she could show she was his wife?

I'm not sure if anyone got what I think is the real underlying message here. That is, nice guys finish last. Althought Vince Vaughn's character, Penny, chose a job that involved the sleazy business of telemarketing, he was a nice guy who generally liked and trusted people, at least in person. He had an unfailing yet somewhat naive ethic that assumed people deserve to be treated fairly, and should be defended when confronted by injustice. The movie suggests that these qualities, although noble, are ultimately the cause of Penny's undoing.

Penny's likability was a magnet for desperate people (i.e. 1) his gutless co-workers: Penny was the one on whom they depended to stand up against bully employers who either didn't pay or was threatening blackmail; 2) his self-pitying brother: who used his handicap to prey on his good will, freeloading when he was more than capable of getting a job and taking care of himself; and of course, 3) Julia Ormond's character, who manipulated him into an arranged marriage.) Finally, at the end, he weighed his life's actions against their consequences, and decided to do what he thought was right for him.

Although the film failed to explain clearly why a person with such compassion and a strong sense of right and wrong would decide to work in such a sleazy environment in the first place, it nevertheless presented a disturbing essay on how good people can be taken advantage of.

This is a great movie with a great cast however Vince Vaughn gives perhaps his best dramatic performance to date. Unlike Will Ferrel, Vaughn can do both comedy and drama.

This is a great movie thats shows us the real sleazy and corrupt world of telemarketing. In fact if your a telemarketer watching this film , youll probably be mad since it exposed your corrupt jobs!! lol

Vaughn plays Penny Wise, a small but great telemarketer who knows how to con people into making sales for his cheap company.

Eventually a bigger telemarketing scheme headed by the character of Ed Harris wants to use Penny's "skills" in this area to pull of a Million Dollar scam.

Meanwhile Penny's friend is out of work and relies on him for support.

Penny is caught in a corner, work with this rich white scoundrels to steal millions and sell his soul to the devil , so to speak, or do the right thing?

This a great movie about moral dilemna and what you really do if you really had to put your money where your mouth and live up to your own idealogies.

All the performances are great and the movie, doesn't really tell you what Penny's "final decision" will be until the 10 minutes he "goes along" with the scam and looks like he will do it with the rest of them.

Highly recommended.

An average movie about a small-time high-talent phone con man who gets a break and chance at the 'big time' in his professions. No more squeezing out twenty-five and fifty dollar orders after he joins on as a salesman at new firm hocking the next big investment deal to widows, retirees, and anyone with enough in the bank.

Filled with quirky characters and stereotypes the office is the battlefield where only the best can hack it.

A few rolls in the hay with the boss's chick and a couple of sales later the end comes crashing down.

Nice idea, kind of cute, would not rent it again though.

THE PRIME GIG, showcasing the acting talent of veteran
actors Vince Vaughn, the lovely Julia Ormond, and the
charismatic, head honcho Ed Harris, is more than just a
professionally made movie. It's an adrenaline packed,
emotionally charged story that carries viewers, on a
unique experience or rollercoaster over more than 90 mins.

Vaughn reprises, in part, an aspect of his humanity,
similar to to one seen inthe other movie LOCUST, (in which
he interacted with a disabled character called FLYBOY ).
He thereby demonstrates his psychological need to come to
the assistance of his disabled friend who, as said, has
difficulty suceeding in life and supporting himself,as a
brother's keeper. This clearly lends credibility to his
role, by making Penny multi-dimensional, not only a
workoholic salesman.

Viewers are treated to a perfect synchronicity between
real situations and the soundtrack, not unlike was the
case elsewhere in BoilerRoom, (that also had a great
soundtrack accompanying the story.) This clearly opens up
the sheer humanity of the sales persons, who must focus on
reaping their commissions surrounding a gold mining stock
promotion in a boiler room in an undisclosed secret
location, to regulatory authorities. This contrasts, in
other words, with the stereotype of sales as a job, often
seen as dehumanizing to those who participate in it, from
the pressure in meeting the sales numbers, on time, and in
full.

Regarding the selling aspect, PRIME GIG is actually pretty
realistic, showing there's more than one way to skin a
cat, meaning, different sales people approach sales
prospects with different techniques, although they share a
common objective, "to kill, or fill" the sales propspect.
We see a couple of CD's containing "leads", headsets,
dialers, a high pressure environment, a sales board,
competition between reps for the most number of sales,
commission bonuses, euphoria, depression, the illusion of
reps chasing a rainbow, in the job they accepted, as did
the prospects by accepting some sales for some products,
that even the salespeople didn't know was a con.

The movie has a dramatic, quick ending, bringing to light
another scourge of modern society, the mortgage fraud.

Clearly, viewers won't be able to say enough about the
acting skills of Vaughn, Ed Harris, and Ormond as their
intensity on screen, is simply unbeatable.

The hook in these grifter/con man movies is to see which of the con men gets conned at the end, and how. All movies in this genre seem to follow that same plot structure. This movie does too, but it suffers by comparison with two other recent movies in the genre, "Matchstick Men" and "Confidence."

What made those movies better, and this one worse, is that in those movies we can totally believe the ending, whereas here we can't. Although the set up is believable, the mechanics of the final rip-off do not seem possible. If they had spent just a bit more time and effort making us believe in the scenario whereby the con man finally gets conned himself, the movie would have been better. Instead, it ends with a whimper, not a bang.

if you're looking for a pure heist film, this one is only average; i'd recommend the argentinian "nine queens." i think the prime gig goes somewhat deeper. the relationship between penny and the old lady is realized very gracefully in just a few minutes. vince vaughn shows some really impressive range here. the ending leaves you a little flat, but i think it's fitting. why spend 5 bucks to rent the movie when you can buy it for just 10? it's definitely worth it.

A typical Indie flick.... no happy endings, but fun & unpredictable content. Obviously if you have spent time in or around the sales "profession" you will have more appreciation for the content than someone who has not. Overall its nice to see big name actors do Indys & plays like Prime Gig & Glengary Glenross.... tho I must say the mainstream side of me still yearns for happy endings... but so goes the Indy!