Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Welcome To The Dark Side, March 25, 2000
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.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A must for Kevin Spacey fans and Hollywood Insider Wannabes, July 27, 2000
Kevin Spacey has emerged as one of America's leading actors in the past few years: "Swimming With Sharks" is a delightful exhibition of his unique blend of sarcasm, viciousness, and versatility. Few characters could be as much fun for an actor to play as Barry Ackerman, the immoral, hedonistic, abuse-spewing film executive idealistic young Guy toils away for. Spacey takes obvious relish in lines such as "Her phone bills are more than your rent," "He's not dead; he's just . . . unavailable," and particularly, "If you were in my toilet, I wouldn't bother to flush you." Guy, an idealistic young film graduate, has somehow landed one of the cream jobs in Hollywood as assistant to Ackerman. How he got the job is a mystery, as Guy seems to have no idea of what goes on in the movie business and has not met Ackerman before. Guy can speak movingly about the movies he watched in his youth -- maybe that's enough to become a mini-mogul in Hollywood these days. Michelle Forbes' Dawn, a producer, inexplicably falls for Guy, although we are supposed to believe that this beautiful, rich, powerful woman is attracted to Guy's honesty and naivete. Funny how those traits work on beautiful, rich, powerful women in the movies. The movie bounces back and forth between Guy getting his revenge on Barry for the hell he's gone through as Barry's lackey and the flashback shots of Guy's humiliating experiences. Throughout the movie we are treated to little Hollywood inside jokes (for example, the "hot young director" in the movie is Foster Kane, the name of Orson Welles' infamous protagonist in "Citizen Kane"). An enjoyable trip through the dark side of the movie business, "Sharks" contains just enough reality to keep the more outlandish plot developments grounded. Not as savage as "In the Company of Men," and not as complex as "The Player," "Swimming With Shars" is nevertheless a solid ninety minutes that will sustain Kevin Spacey fans who have watched "The Usual Suspects," "Se7en," "American Beauty," or "Glengarry Glen Ross" too many times. Be warned: the videotape is of poor quality and may wear out more quickly than other high-budget releases.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my Favorites..., January 6, 2000
I chanced upon this movie by accident. I rented it at Blockbuster because it starred Kevin Spacey and I think there was some comparison to Robert Altman's The Player, which I loved. I was unprepared for what I got. First, you have Spacey, my favorite actor currently working today in one of his most brilliant performances ever. I think his turn as Mel Proffit on Wiseguy is the only job he has done that I like better. Next, you have Frank Whaley, a talented young actor who slips between extremes of timid uncertainty at the beginning of his job with Buddy, to icy cool professionalism toward the end. He also shows a warm caring side with his girlfriend (played very smartly by the sexy Michelle Forbes) as well as a psychotic off the deep end side when he takes Spacey's character hostage. I loved it on first viewing. I found a used copy of it about a month later and purchased it immediately. I have watched this film about 25 times in the last 5 years, and it never gets old. It is fresh and blackly funny every time I watch it. One thing that I have noticed on many repeat viewings is that Spacey's Buddy Ackerman character is really a much nicer guy than he appears. It is my belief after viewing this film so many times that Buddy actually does care for Guy. You can see it in the little grins that he gives after he has reamed Guy out for something, and in the way that all of his advice is based on his own personal experience. I don't think that Buddy is lying when he tells Guy that after a year with him, Guy will be ready for anything. He is deliberately cruel in a very educational way. I believe that he is trying to get Guy to accept the realism of the terrible, unfair Hollywood system, and that he really does mean for Guy to follow in his footsteps, but is being intentionally brutal in an attempt to quickly teach Guy the lessons that it took Buddy himself 10 years to learn. I also think the ending is one of the most effective twists I have ever seen on film, and proves my point that Buddy actually does care about Guy and wants him to succeed. This movie is a must see for anyone who is interested in the Hollywood studio system and wants to see a viciously funny black comedy. It is also highly recommended if you are a Kevin Spacey fan. I'm really waiting to see a complete review of the quality on the DVD for this film before I go out and purchase it. This is definitely one of my top 10 favorite films of the last 5 or 6 years. Buy it now and laugh yourself silly.
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