Copernicus at SBIFF: MIDDLE MEN

MIDDLE MEN

Sadly, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival has come to an end, but it went out with a bang. The closing night film was MIDDLE MEN, based on the true story of Jack Harris (Luke Wilson), an entrepreneur and family man who somewhat reluctantly helps to revolutionize internet porn, and in the process gets caught up in a life of drug-addled collaborators, murder, porn stars, crooked lawyers, the Russian mob, and the FBI. The pitch for MIDDLE MEN may well have been BOOGIE NIGHTS 2.0, and that captures the general flavor: it is a semicomic retrospective, complete with period music, that allows us to vicariously ride out a seismic shift that realigns fortunes in the porn industry, although it is best not to take the comparison too literally. Director George Gallo (writer of MIDNIGHT RUN and BAD BOYS) is certainly up to the task of delivering a whimsical and entertaining roller coaster ride through the life of a porn baron, though it would be unfair to compare him to Paul Thomas Anderson. But I’m going to do it anyway. MIDDLE MEN never quite achieves the sporadic heights of genius that make BOOGIE NIGHTS a classic, but on the other hand it doesn’t get lost in the second half, and instead continues to build on a tight narrative to a satisfying, if almost too-neat, conclusion. MIDDLE MEN begins with a tease of what’s to come: our narrator, Jack Harris (Luke Wilson), tells us that he doesn’t know how it came to this: he’s delivering a large bag of cash to the Russian mob in what is nearly certain to be a suicide mission. He started off as a devoted husband and father, but slowly, over time, it all went wrong. Then we flash back to various high (or low) points in this sordid affair. Disgraced blow-fiends Wayne Beering (Giovanni Ribisi), once a veterinarian, and Buck Dolby (Gabriel Macht), once a NASA employee, have a coked-out revelation in 1997: there’s not enough good porn on the internet, maybe because there’s no good way to pay for it. In a moment of clarity, the two concoct a secure payment scheme and their first porn site. Soon they make a deal with the local strip club to film their dancers, but this involves getting into bed, so to speak, with the Russian mafia. Within months they are worth millions, but the business is growing at a rate that two cokeheads can’t handle. They fail to pay debts to the Russians, and instead hole up in a Vegas hotel where they go on a five day coke and whoring bender. A lawyer acquaintance (James Caan), brings in the fixer, Jack, to get things straight. Jack quickly turns things around , and adds a few ideas to take the business to a new level. But things start to go downhill fast, as double-crossings, an accidental death, porn stars, the Russian mafia, and an FBI agent (Kevin Pollak), leave Jack with a few too many balls in the air. Since it is just hitting the highlights of a decade-long saga, the film zooms along at an impressive clip. Each plot twist ups the ante. Serious life-or-death struggles occur, but they never weighed down the narrative, as they are mostly played for laughs. In some ways, MIDDLE MEN resembles a caper film like LOCK, STOCK, AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, or LAYER CAKE, but it doesn’t quite have the panache of LOCK, STOCK, or the gravitas of LAYER CAKE. Still, it is a fun ride. I’m just not sure I’ll ever need to see it again. One of the highlights of MIDDLE MEN is the cast. James Caan is of course great as a seedy lawyer, and Giovanni Ribisi plays to his strengths as a hyper, paranoid cokehead. But Luke Wilson really anchors the film – his character is the moral center in this sea of depravity and incompetence. While the character has his faults, he’s at least aware of them, and he’s the one person the audience can really relate to. A slight complaint it is that this somewhat tones down the drama – you get the sense that he might not fall too far, because he’s just so damn likable. Another actor might have brought a bit more of an edge to the role, but I can’t decide if that would be a good or a bad thing. I do have a couple of minor complaints about the cast. Laura Ramsey plays internet stripper and temptress, Audrew Dawns, and while she’s beautiful, I never quite believed her as a porn star. She’s a little too pretty, not enough nasty, and we never get to see firsthand why she’s supposed to be so special. I’m not sure if that is a failing of the script, or how far she was willing to go in the role, but either way it is a mistake. Similarly, Rade Serbedzija is mostly adequate, though not threatening enough, and certainly not iconic, as a Russian mobster. But my biggest complaint is that there were a few glimpses of greatness that are basically a waste of talent. Robert Forster and Kelsey Grammer light up the screen in brief roles, but sadly, each is restricted to cameos. I could have watched an entire film about each of the characters they played. In short, MIDDLE MEN is entertaining and competently executed – an interesting story well told. Still, it comes up a bit shy of greatness. This is reflected in its release date: November 7, 2010 – it isn’t a summer blockbuster, and it isn’t Oscar material. But for an off-season diversion, it is well worth a look.
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