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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Woods is great but the film is a hatchet job on Rudy., January 2, 2004
I have always liked James Woods and I always will. I did not much care for this film despite Woods' fine portrayal of Giuliani. The film is watchable, and more than watchable, that I'll grant. But it focuses obsessively on Giiuliani's marital problems and foibles, and only touches briefly on the truly wonderful things he did for New York. Golly, you don't suppose the producers were Democrats, do you? I mean, you could almost feel the pain of the producers of this film each time they were forced to discuss something intelligent that Giuliani did as mayor, and then of course the film would snap back to its main theme--that Giuliani was possibly a less-than-ideal husband or has other faults as a person, i.e. ego, ambition, vanity. What great man or woman lacks these traits, anyway? Nothing wrong with including this as part of the film, but I felt that the story lacked balance and shows an underlying hostility to what Giuliani set out to and did accomplish as mayor of New York. I was disappointed in the film and the only good thing about it is James Woods. He makes the film watchable, but this movie falls far short of its potential. Then again, one cannot realistically expect Hollywood to make a movie about conservative politics rescuing New York City from turning into an ungovernable mess.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Rudy as Abrasive Egomaniac, March 1, 2004
I recall meeting Rudy Giuliani at a book signing. The bookstore employees warned us several times that Giuliani will be unable to speak with us or personalize the signatures because the turnout was much greater than expected. When we got there, he very pleasantly asked us how we were, what our names were, gave us a personalized signature and wished us a good day. He struck me as someone who, generally, would be a decent person to work with. I realize he is a politician and politicians know its wise to be pleasant in public, but this side of Giuliani was missing from this documentary. The Giuliani of this documentary is an egomaniac who's abrasive 100% of the time. This documentary definitely gives you the feeling that you have to be obnoxious to get ahead. The flashbacks between September 11 and the chronological depiction of his life were done unskillfully, at best. Among the "special features" is a documentary on September 11 from the perspective of the photographers that was created with much more skill. I can imagine some reasons to buy this DVD, certainly for a school library or as audiovisual material for a current events class. May be worth watching once. However, I doubt anyone would watch this more than once.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
James Woods Shines, November 29, 2003
This is a fascinating portrait of a complex political figure. James Woods gives an incredible performance. That said the film suffers greatly from an abrupt and weak ending. I also didn't understand some the of characters...The people in his life. Some of their motives and their backgrounds just weren't clear enough. Worth seeing for the effective 9/11 sequences and for Woods'performance in the title role.
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