Middle Men

2009 "Business is a lot like sex ... getting in is easy, pulling out is hard."
6.8| 1h45m| R| en| More Info
Released: 07 November 2009 Released
Producted By: Paramount
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.middlemenmovie.com/
Synopsis

Chronicles Jack Harris, one of the pioneers of internet commerce, as he wrestles with his morals and struggles not to drown in a sea of conmen, mobsters, drug addicts, and pornstars.

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Reviews

Lawbolisted Powerful
Steineded How sad is this?
StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
adonis98-743-186503 Chronicles Jack Harris, one of the pioneers of internet commerce, as he wrestles with his morals and struggles not to drown in a sea of conmen, mobsters, drug addicts, and pornstars. Luke Wilson gives a nice performance in Middle Men but the overly heavy sex jokes, poor script and laughably bad characters ruin the moment and the whole "Based on True Story" stuff plus not every True Story needs to become a movie just snap out of it Hollywood. The film tries to become like the next Goodfellas or something and the director seems to try to follow the steps of great directors like Martin Scorsese but after a while you will ask yourself if you either watch a porn, comedy or an action movie. (3.9/10)
Sy1975 As other reviewers have mentioned where did this film come from? Apparently it hardly received any exposure in the states and literally nothing here in the UK. I happened to come across by chance on Netflix buried within their non advertised titles.Even on IMDb there are only a handful of reviews compared to other rubbish out there. So I felt compelled to write a few words in praise.Firstly the cast is excellent, Wlison is so much stronger than his brother as a straight actor, really liked the character and wanted him to pull through, the supporting cast shine with strong performances. I really felt the film was well cast.Script and story are excellent, based on true events (which highlights the .com bubble from a different and interesting perspective). It's well shot, great locations and the soundtrack supports the film. Yes there is some nudity but actually no sex scenes which actually was the right thing to do. How easy would it have been to over sex a film about internet porn.Direction is tight, yes it has elements of Casino and Goddfellas perhaps, but why not? They are great films. In my opinion it has parallels with Wolf of Wall Street with the much over rated DiCaprio, in fact I enjoyed this film more. Just goes to show that big budget and marketing with a studio really behind a film, makes the difference not the story, acting or direction.Should be in your must watch list.
SnoopyStyle It's 1988 Houston. Jack Harris (Luke Wilson) proposes to Diana (Jacinda Barrett) living in a suburban live. In L.A., Wayne Beering (Giovanni Ribisi) and Buck Dolby (Gabriel Macht) are struggling to figure out how to make it. They're both drug addicts losing their day jobs. In 1997, Jack gets lured to L.A. to fix up a club. Meanwhile Buck and Wayne start a porn site developing a payment system. They hook up with Russian gangster Nikita Sokoloff (Rade Serbedzija). They grow beyond their capabilities and move out to Vegas. Mobster Jerry Haggerty (James Caan) calls in Jack to help the guys to fix their business. As Jack turns their business into a success, Jack falls for porn actress Audrey Dawns (Laura Ramsey).This seems to be a crazy story that is built to be brought to the bad screen. It's 'The Social Network' with gangsters, drugs and porn. The movie probably follows the wrong guy. It's not as compelling as it ought to be. That may be due to the producer who wants to make a movie about himself. Ribisi is the perfect druggie screwup. Luke Wilson would be a great straight guy Buck in a comedic duo. They should be the starring lead characters in the movie. Jack is basically the businessman. He's really the side character being pushed up as the lead. Gabriel Macht would be a perfect fit as shown in his later TV role in Suits. Director George Gallo takes this rich material and makes a middling movie.
LeonLouisRicci This one was given the Distributor Bum's Rush by whoever makes those kind of decisions, but it deserves better. Every Character on Screen is really unlikable and not even that interesting. However, they are welcome Screen Sleaze, Criminals, Low-Lifes, Pornographers, and the best of the lot, a delusional "Middle Man" Fixer type that fancies Himself some sort of Hands-Off, Masturbatory outlet.Internet Ticket Taker/Porn Provider is what He becomes, all the while telling Himself, and the Viewer in an ongoing Voice-over, that He is an innocent Family Man of the Norman Rockwell persuasion. Talk about denial. This has an extremely derivative Movie Style that never makes any attempt to hide its Homage/Theft. Starting out as a Whacked Comedy it slowly moves to Neo-Noir territory and is better for it.The Crime Story mixed with Dark Comedy works the best and the Wild Slapstick and over Acting from the two Central Figures gets unwelcome every time they show up and show off. The Movie looks great and is mostly effective, but sometimes becomes disjointed with a lot of Subplots and a whole lot of Characters sliding in and out.Overall, not bad and worth a view if nothing New.