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.
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.
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
abusing his boy-toy (exemplified by the scene in which he forbids Guy to go to the bathroom as he pours water back and forth from a glass to a pitcher). Meanwhile, Guy struggles to push his idea for a script and feels he's finally made it when Buddy congratulates him on a job well done. However, much to his chagrin, his conniving boss actually takes sole credit for the project, pushing the young assistant to wit's end -- he breaks into Buddy's Beverly Hills showplace and takes him hostage, then proceeds to torture him in a number of demeaning and horrifying ways. The whole film stands as a sort of parable about the value system in Hollywood and the cost of reaching the top; it doesn't play like real life, but it's not supposed to. The real reason to watch the film, however, is Spacey's performance. He manages at once to be terrifying, hateful, and hilarious, and he makes Buddy Ackerman a character the audience won't soon forget. ~ Jeremy Beday, Rovi
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.
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
screenwriter/director could discover much more of the feature and his characters to presents for the audience, and enrich more the plot and script. However, Swimming with Sharks is a terrific tip for who like of suspense, black comedy and to Spacey's fans. Fresh.
"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
abusive and dominating boss, and seems to be a natural at it. The story seems quite straightforward to begin with, but halfway through the film the truth is revealed and you are pulled from siding with one character and totally hating the other, to understanding both. In fact you are almost taken the full journey to hating the character you originally believed in. This turn is done wonderfully, and you can feel your realization creeping forward. The ending is just as much a turnaround as anything, and watching Spacey's character control the events is fantastic. See Spacey at one of his finest moments.
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