Boogie Nights meets Goodfellas in Middle Men

Middle Men
"Boogie Nights" meets "Goodfellas" in "Middle Men"

Synopsis: Like BOOGIE NIGHTS for the internet age, MIDDLE MEN is a comic look at the origins of the porn boom on the web. The oh-so-prescient Jack sees dollar signs when he imagines the combination of the newly popular internet and the pornography industry, and he starts a lucrative business. But while Jack just wants to hold on to his normal life, he finds his existence invaded by F.B.I. agents, terrorists, and the Russian mob. MIDDLE MEN stars Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, James Caan, Gabriel Macht, and Peter Stormare.

In 1995, everyone had a VCR, music was sold in record stores, and the world-wide-web was a new found discovery. Businessman Jack Harris (Luke Wilson) had the perfect life â€“ a beautiful family and a successful career fixing problem companies. Then he met Wayne Beering (Giovanni Ribisi) and Buck Dolby (Gabriel Macht), two genius but troubled men, who had invented the way adult entertainment is sold over the internet. When Jack agrees to help steer their business, he soon finds himself caught between a 23 year-old porn star and the FBI all the while becoming one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs of his time. Witness a story so outrageous, you won't believe it's true. A story that proves business is a lot like sexâ€¦ getting in is easy, pulling out is hard.

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George Gallo's 'Middle Men,' starring Luke Wilson, explores the sleazy world where purveyors of porn intersect with the mob.

"Boogie Nights" meets "Goodfellas" in "Middle Men," a relentlessly sleazy but undeniably intriguing tour of the bottom-feeding netherworld where porn and organized crime do their mutual bump-and-grind. Unabashedly genuflecting to Martin Scorsese as he pushes a whole lot of stuff in your face you'd perhaps rather not have within inhaling distance, "Midnight Run" writer George Gallo applies considerable narrative skill and reasonable cinematic flair to an insanely intricate tale of men who can't resist giving in to their basest instincts. A more heavyweight cast would have helped Paramount push over this immorality tale with audiences not necessarily disposed toward fare that will make them want to take a shower immediately after seeing it. Distrib will release the film this year, but a date has not yet been determined.

Worthy of being double billed one day with "The Informant!" due to the remarkable extent of the protag's self-denial about what he's really up to, "Middle Men" is a whopper of an "inspired by true events" story about a legit Texas businessman who somehow imagines he remains morally uncontaminated by his surroundings while mixing it up with porn stars, Internet scam artists, Russian mobsters, Vegas wheeler-dealers, FBI agents, corrupt politicians and assorted scumbags -- all while pretending to maintain a proper, if distant, family life back home. And he's the so-called good guy with whom you're supposed to identify.

At the very least, Jack Harris (Luke Wilson) is the guide who, via reams of voiceover narration that give Ray Liotta's running commentary in "Goodfellas" a run for its money, provides an ongoing road map through the dizzying maze of sordid events and personalities that populate this lower-middle range of earthly hell.

Pic defines its area of interest early on with a sequence the likes of which has assuredly never been seen before in a Hollywood studio feature -- a masturbation montage. The point of this unique interlude is to illustrate a commercial niche unfilled as of 1997: "something to jerk off to over the Internet." That need is willingly met by two slime-buckets entirely lacking in principles, Wayne Beering (Giovanni Ribisi) and Buck Dolby (Gabriel Macht). Initially grabbing porn straight from magazines and posting it on their site, the grubby former veterinarian and NASA technician, respectively, see the subscriptions start rolling in, which means they can now afford more and better drugs.

Jack provides the boys with guidance as to how they can much more dramatically increase their income, but with millions come associations with people ready to rip you off at best and do you bodily harm at worst. Old-school Vegas lawyer and dealmaker Jerry Haggerty (James Caan) is always happy to help but then never lets you forget your debt to him, while much more direct is Russian crime boss Nikita Sokoloff (Rade Serbedzija), who's got a threat for every occasion.

The cast is rich with colorful lowlifes and no-goods, and Wayne and Buck's complete whacked-outness and acts of utter stupidity become increasingly mind-blowing the more successful they become. They need Jack's help to get them out of their frequent scrapes, and that's where Jack's genius shows itself; the man is a master diplomat and calculator who can negotiate a deal from which everyone goes home happy even in the most extreme circumstances.

Jack keeps a legal distance from his partners' porn activities by officially running only their billing operations, and rationalizes it professionally by insisting he's no more involved in the sex business than are respectable hotels that offer it to guests on in-room TV. Still, he scarcely sees his wife (Jacinda Barrett) and growing son because he's running a glitzy nightclub, becoming far too involved with porn star Audrey Dawns (Laura Ramsey) and ultimately getting into hot water with Nikita.

Gallo shows again that he can write funny, vulgar dialogue, and he moves the action along with reasonable verve and, given the complicated story, admirable coherence. Where the film doesn't connect as it needs to is with Jack's character. In a tale full of operators, Jack is the king, but as written and in Wilson's performance, one doesn't really see him operating; there's nothing going on in the actor's eyes. As a result, Jack is pretty bland, a seemingly ordinary guy with an expertise that seems to come out of nowhere. It would have been much more interesting to see him as a confident high-stakes gambler who always believes he can out-finesse the other guy.

Macht similarly declines to take his character, a formerly straight-arrow aspiring-astronaut type, to the limit, leaving it to Ribisi to steal the show as a certifiable maniac and confrontationalist who really doesn't know what he's saying most of the time. Serbedzija gives his Godfather-like figure some human traits but is downright scary when he wants to be, which is much of the time.

Sharp around the edges but rather soft at its core, "Middle Men" sports snazzy production values and an expensive soundtrack of, again a la Scorsese, a wide assortment of popular tunes.

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POWERED BY
A Paramount release of a Mallick Media presentation of an Oxymoron Entertainment production in association with Blue Star Entertainment. Produced by Christopher Mallick, William Sherak, Jason Shuman, Michael Weiss. Co-producer, Nate Blonde, Co-executive producers, Daniel S. Frisch, Shaliza Somani, Andy Weiss. Directed by George Gallo. Screenplay, Gallo, Andy Weiss.

Jack Harris - Luke Wilson
Wayne Beering - Giovanni Ribisi
Buck Dolby - Gabriel Macht
Diana Harris - Jacinda Barrett
Audrey Dawns - Laura Ramsey
James - Terry Crews
Nikita Sokoloff - Rade Serbedzija
Curt Allmans - Kevin Pollak
Jerry Haggerty - James Caan
Ivan - Graham McTavish
Denny Z - Jason Antoon
Louie La La - Robert Forster

Release Date: August 6, 2010
Studio: Paramount Vantage
Director: George Gallo
Screenwriter: George Gallo, Andy Weiss
Starring: Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, James Caan, Gabriel Macht, Peter Stormare, Rachael Taylor, Kelsey Grammer, Laura Ramsey
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: R (for strong sexual content, nudity, language, drug use and violence)
Official Website: MiddleMenmovie.com
Review: Not Available
DVD Review: Not Available
DVD: Not Available

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