Gun Shy (2000)

Synopsis: Charlie (LIAM NEESON), a legendary undercover DEA agent, has suddenly lost his nerves of steel. Although he's been involved in more drug busts than he cares to remember, his instinct for danger, his cool composure and his iron guts - especially his guts - have finally failed him. The post... Charlie (LIAM NEESON), a legendary undercover DEA agent, has suddenly lost his nerves of steel. Although he's been involved in more drug busts than he cares to remember, his instinct for danger, his cool composure and his iron guts - especially his guts - have finally failed him. The post traumatic stress of his latest well-planned sting operation that went awry has shaken him to the core and he is now begging for retirement from his clandestine business. However, Charlie is in too deep and has to fulfill one final complex covert obligation.

On the verge of a career-induced mental breakdown, and in complete fear of trigger-happy Mafia leader Fulvio Nesstra (OLIVER PLATT), Charlie seeks psychiatric help and finds himself relying on the support of an unstable therapy group, and nurse Judy (SANDRA BULLOCK), just to get through his work, in Hollywood Pictures' dark comedy, "Gun Shy."

Charlie wants out, but his superiors have other ideas. It has taken months to set up this sting job, and Charlie must finish the assignment. He has no choice, even though fright plays malicious havoc with his nerves and afflicts him with embarrassing stomach problems. He sneaks off to seek the help of a psychiatrist, Dr. Jeff Bleckner (MICHAEL MANTELL), who introduces him to a support group of neurotic yuppies. The guys are dumbfounded when Charlie confesses the source of his deepest anxiety - he is terrified of having to go up against vicious mob hit man Fulvio Nesstra (OLIVER PLATT).

Hoping for some relief from his chronically aching gut, Charlie meets Judy Tipp (SANDRA BULLOCK), an attractive nurse. It is, undoubtedly, one of the most unusual first meetings in cinema history. "A person like Charlie, who is under constant pressure, is more prone to developing stress-related problems," smiles writer/director Blakeney. "So Judy has to give him a colonic. In spite of that, Charlie is drawn to her because of her intuitive understanding. And as the most natural and centered person in the film, she senses in him a big wounded soul that she wants to repair."

Deep in the middle of nerve-jarring negotiations to cut a tense money-laundering deal with psychotic mobsters, a touchy Colombian drug cartel scion named Fidel Vaillar (JOSE ZUNIGA), and Jason Cane (ANDY LAUER), a frenetic young Wall Street broker, Charlie does his noble best to maintain his facade of unflappable calm and poise. Meanwhile, everyone else's true self disconcertingly emerges. Fulvio, the man Charlie most dreads in the world, is demoralized by his life. For his part, the suave, cosmopolitan Fidel is tired of trying to win his father's approval and yearns for a new life with his secret lover, Estuvio (MICHAEL DeLORENZO). The yuppies in his support group all share Charlie's vision of a world without bosses. Even Jason, the stockbroker, is not what he appears to be.

But the stakes are high and everyone wants the money. Charlie has got to keep all the pieces together if he hopes to make it out alive one last time. That is, if he can ever retrieve his intestinal fortitude. [More]