Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 34
Fresh: 27 | Rotten: 7
Swimming With Sharks is a smart, merciless Hollywood satire that's darkly hilarious and observant, thanks to Kevin Spacey's performance as ruthless studio mogul Buddy Ackerman.
Average Rating: 5.7/10
Critic Reviews: 11
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 5
Swimming With Sharks is a smart, merciless Hollywood satire that's darkly hilarious and observant, thanks to Kevin Spacey's performance as ruthless studio mogul Buddy Ackerman.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 9,869
Originally screened at Telluride as The Buddy Factor, Swimming With Sharks is an uneven but engrossing picture, and a possible warning to anyone with plans to break into the motion-picture business. When Guy (Frank Whaley), a recent film-school graduate with big ideas, takes a job as assistant to major studio executive Buddy Ackerman (Kevin Spacey), he believes his ship has finally come in; little does he know it's a slave ship, for his boss is indeed worse than a slave driver. Buddy delights in
Mar 21, 1995 Wide
Aug 18, 1998
Trimark
All Critics (37) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (7) | DVD (5)
This excessively talky, incoherently plotted, would-be film noir is not very good.
To outsiders, all this rage and gnashing of teeth may seem silly and self-absorbed.
Sharks is a one-joke movie, and the joke wears thin less than halfway through.
[Huang's] plot may be overwritten and the ending may be less than satisfying, but his eye and ear are right.
Kevin Spacey, who is the reason to see the picture, is hilariously ruthless as Buddy Ackerman.
There doesn't seem to be enough material here to satisfy a full length feature, and the movie, which starts with such promise, begins to drag around its midpoint.
Despite some sharp dialogue, this is a nasty, derivative film, sort of a cross between Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Altman's The Player.
...Spacey delivers one of his most memorable performances...
It's darkly hilarious, smoothly entertaining, and almost sinfully cruel. And the finalé packs a real stinger.
Dazzling and subversive satire on boss-employee relations.
One of the best film's of the 90's...Spacey and Whaley are staggeringly good!
ascerbic but missing something
Swimming with Sharks, is a good film, that presents a intelligent and surprising script with a Hollywood satire. Kevin Spacey's acting is one of the top points of the film, his performance together with Whaley, brings a great dark humor to Huang's picture and to the climax, of course in someway the
November 3, 2011Super Reviewer
"Before you go out and change the world, you have to ask yourself, "What do you really want?"A young, naive Hollywood studio assistant finally turns the tables on his incredibly abusive producer boss.REVIEWAn excellent film, and one of Kevin Spacey's truly great moments. He shines in this character of an
April 21, 2009
Super Reviewer
| 35% | The Hangover Part II |
| 25% | Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Par... |
| 81% | Kung Fu Panda 2 |
| 44% | Cowboys & Aliens |
| 83% | Rise of the Planet of the Apes |
| 25% | Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Par... |
| 88% | Lady and the Tramp |
| 69% | A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas |
| 21% | Fireflies in the Garden |
| 45% | The Rebound |
Journey 2 Not Worth the Trip
What are his 10 best movies ever?
See the all-new action-packed trailer!
Five new Marvelous pictures