Inspired by a true story and actual events, Middle Men tells the story of the beginning of 16% of what you’re using right now, 16% of the interwebs: porn. (Yeah, I thought it was a larger percentage too.) The story is what made this movie for me…it’s surreal but all believable at the same time. You can definitely tell that this is a lower budget film, but it’s still a pretty decent experience. And there are hot chicks.
Luke Wilson stars as Jack Harris. The movie is almost entirely through his point of view so Luke Wilson narrates everything going on. The movie begins with a lot of background of the various characters in the story. Jack Harris, himself is an unlikely addition to the mix and he explains how he got caught up in the future mess and turmoil. He comes from a humble background being a family man out of the heart of Texas. He has one great skill though, he figures out how to make things work and in this case, figures out how to make businesses work. He gets introduced to these two guys, Wayne Beering and Buck Dolby (played by Giovanni Ribisi and Gabriel Macht) who stumbled onto a game changing idea: getting people to pay for adult material on the internet.
Be careful who you do business with...
One problem, these two guys were morons. Even though they were smart enough to come up with this multi-billion dollar idea, they had no idea how to run a business on their own or run their own lives for that matter. They got mixed up with the Russian mob, an untrustworthy lawyer, and other dirty characters. When they first struck it big, they blew most of the cash on blow and other fun activities in Vegas. Jack Harris enters the scenario and came in to fix their business and ruined partnerships with the mob…but he couldn’t fix them. There’s your basis. The movie unfolds from here into a cluster of random stories and plot points that aren’t organized too well in the script.
The movie felt a bit dull to me but that could have just been the monotone narrating voice of Luke Wilson. The beginning the film moved slow as they set up the background stories of the main characters and then only picked up a little as it got deeper into the story. They tried to show the problems of Jack pile up until it was just too much to handle and then let us see the inevitable demise of our narrator. However, that really didn’t come through to the audience. Jack made so much money and was living such an extravagant lifestyle that it just seemed like everything was going his way.
such concentration with money flying all around...lol
Through the jumbled story lines, there are a lot of funny scenes in Middle Men with the majority coming from our moronic duo of Wayne and Buck. Even before they made their money, they were snorting cocaine and just acting insane so you can only imagine what they turned into after making millions and not having a worry in the world. I really wonder if the real world counterparts were like that or still live their life that way…it’s a hell of a life. There’s also an amazing supporting cast with the likes of James Caan, Kevin Pollak, Terry Crews, and Kelsey Grammer who offer up great performances (but there won’t be any Oscar nominations for this one).
The great James Caan introducing the not so great Denny Z
I loved the story and majority of the cast but just wish they had a better script and director. It had the elements to be a great film but fell short by being a mashed up production. If you’re interested in an entertaining story about striking it rich in the internet porn business and the problems that come with it, check this one out. Otherwise, I’d wait for it on DVD or Netflix. Great cast, great story…poor script and director. Kinda like a porno?
Tags: Gabriel Macht, Giovanni Ribisi, Graham McTavish, Jacinda Barrett, James Caan, Jason Antoon, John Ashton, Kelsey Grammer, Kevin Pollak, Laura Ramsey, Luke Wilson, Middle Men, Rade Serbedzija, Robert Forster, Terry Crews
Matthew Fong created advancescreenings.com and is the lead contributor. He watches every type of movie and will try almost anything twice. You can follow him on twitter here: @matthewfong
