Hola all. Massawyrm here.
Just about every summer we get a film that swoops refreshingly in to fill the void of culture left by the high octane, big budget summer tentpoles that choke out more intelligent fare. And while I love me some good old fashioned explosions, sometimes it is nice to catch a breather and cleanse the pallet with something a bit more delicately crafted on a far lower budget. This year, that film is MIDDLE MEN. Don’t let all the red band ads fool you – this isn’t an excuse to splash T&A across the screen for two hours. No, it’s GOODFELLAS for folks who want a less morally ambiguous protagonist. And it is really, really good.
Based upon a true story, MIDDLE MEN focuses upon a very normal man who just happens to be extremely clever. He’s just some normal, average, everyday guy who one day manages to convince the right people that he knows how to solve problems. It is that gift that brings him into contact with two tweaking, coked-up hard-ons who have stumbled upon the invention of the decade. The movie will have you believe it is internet porn. It is not. These two peckerwoods wrote the code to safely enter and transmit credit card data via the internet – a protocol still in use today. And if you’ve ever bought a DVD, movie tickets or sent money to someone in any way via the internet, odds are you’ve dropped a few coins in this man’s pocket over the years. And this is his story.
The film is a satisfying and compelling narrative not at all unlike the many crime biopics we’ve seen over the years. SCARFACE, GOODFELLAS, BLOW – this has hints of all of them, with a catch. Jack Harris isn’t an immoral scumbag. Quite the contrary. He’s just a regular guy with a wife and kids he loves very much and wants to provide for, which of course means working with some rather unsavory characters for a few years while he makes the money that will set them for life. Unfortunately for him, those characters include Russian gangsters, sleazy lawyers, child pornographers, porn stars, the FBI and a pair of nitwits that can’t pull their nose up from the glass table long enough to spit out a coherent sentence.
This thing is twisty, with plenty of surprises wrought with tension, but a wicked sense of humor that will have you laughing throughout. Most of all, Jack Harris pulls you through. It’s not about watching him become one of the bad guys. It’s about watching a good man try to work around bad guys. And that makes for one of the most interesting takes on the Biopic scene I’ve encountered in a while. Sure, Harris slips, that’s what makes him interesting – but at the end of the day, you feel connected because this guy is always trying to do the right thing, even when he’s neck deep in shit created by villains he’s embroiled with.
While the writing is sharp and the direction fluid, the film’s crown jewel is its casting. Every small role, no matter how incidental, is given to a talented vet. Luke Wilson does a great job as the in-over-his-head lead, a role he was pretty much born to play, but the cast surrounding him is stellar. Drugged out of his mind psychopath? Giovanni Ribisi. Las Vegas sleazebag? James Caan. Conservative Southern District Attorney? Kelsey Grammer. New York City legbreaker? Robert fucking Forster. Professional bouncer and hired muscle? Terry Crews. FBI agent with a heart of gold? Kevin Pollock. Midwestern neglected lonely wife? Jacinda Barrett. If they have a line, there’s a good chance they cast the perfect person to nail it. Some of these folks get as little as 30 seconds on screen – but they own every single one of those seconds. And if there’s one person who steals every scene he is in, it is Giovanni Ribisi, who is so damned intense here, it almost defies words. If the scene in THE GIFT when he goes crazy with a baseball bat is an 8, this is an 11 – and he rarely gets below a 9. He’s really incredible here.
I have no complaints. None. It is a well thought out, thoroughly entertaining ride that will dazzle you with its sleaze, but nourish you with its solid, seamless story, its razor sharp writing and evocative direction. This is easily the best film George Gallo has ever directed, and certainly up there with the best of his writing efforts, MIDNIGHT RUN. If this summer has been disappointing you, I highly recommend you take this in at your earliest opportunity. It’s just a good fucking movie. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Until next time friends,
Massawyrm
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