Swimming with Sharks

From Sunset Boulevard (1950) through to The Player (1992), the dark side of Hollywood has given up juicy material for filmmakers looking to bite the hand that feeds. Not that there is any secret to be revealed here - pretty much everything you need to know about the soulless, spirit-crushing side of movie-making is contained in Raymond Chnadler's 1945 essay "Writer's in Hollywood", which contains more horror than any of the celluloid parodies it has since inspired.

Swimming with Sharks is the tale of innocent Guy (a freshly scrubbed Frank Whaley), whose monster boss is tinsel town king-maker Buddy Ackerman, a screaming, mood-shifting bully who dangles just enough opportunity before Guy to keep him on his leash. But payback is due, and comes in spades.

It is all very dark and delicious, and Spacey gets to rip loose as the psycho boss, the joke being that it is his very lack of sanity and compassion that allows him to thrive in the business. Love interest is supplied by producer Dawn (Michelle Forbes), who allows Guy to stay grounded as he negotiates his way to the top. Dawn and Guy show us that even in Hollywood true love can conquer all - or can it? It is received wisdom that movies about movies don't travel very well. Swimming with Sharks is about delusion and corruption, and how much the human spirit can take. It just happens to be set in Hollywood, but Buddy Ackerman could be Gordon Gecko in a different market. Worth watching to see Spacey enjoying himself in a role where he gets to say pretty much whatever he likes, and does so with relish.

Guy is the latest in a long line of personal assistants to Keystone Pictures executive Buddy. However he quickly learns that he must put up with a torrent of abuse and unreasonable demands. After a year of this he is pushed to the limit and decides to take action – however if Buddy is unreasonable what does it take to make it in show business?

A dark, cruel satire on the business called show. Director writer Huang spent 6 years in Lucasfilms and Columbia so this is very bitter and real. However it manages to be funny and very dark. The plot is told in flashbacks and is very dark. The end is depressing for those of us who believe that Hollywood isn't all egos. The plot does have weaknesses though – Buddy going for a film called Real Life is pretty unlikely but this is a minor flaw.

The main strength here is Spacey. His nasty energy is great and it's impossible to look away when he's onscreen. However when he's not there the film sags a little. Whaley is very good and the mousey personality suits his looks.

Overall it may be a little hard to watch because it is a very bitter tale from Huang, however Spacey is a master and delivers a performance that shows why he became famous.

Yes, the performances (especially Spacey's--mesmerizing) were excellent, but the film suffers simply because it does not know what it wants to be. Both halves are well-done, but placed side-by-side it almost seems as though two separate films were hastily meshed together by an overworked film editor. The comedy is far too light to stand aside overly dark torture scenes, although Spacey does a fine job in turning what is essentially a caricature of a tough boss into a multi-level (and very stirring) performance. I do, however, have to agree with some of the posts on this board--Spacey's motivation in the last scenes is indeed very difficult to comprehend.

Powerful movie that shows the nastier, more foul-mouthed side of Hollywood. Guy, played by Whaley, is a Hollywood rookie with no real experience but some lofty goals. The movie charts his learning of the ways of Hollywood through becoming an assistant for fastidious big-shot producer Buddy Ackerman (Spacey), and his subsequent unlearning of the 'normal' moral values that apply almost anywhere else. A remarkable performance from Spacey who is by turns searingly offensive, scathingly funny and (funnily enough) vividly human. Making an audience feel for such a revolting character is a feat not many could accomplish, but Spacey's up to the task. Frank Whaley (possibly known to you through a bit part in 'Pulp Fiction') also turns in a very strong performance as the disillusioned young assistant who falls in love (or rather, in bed) with a female producer played by the sultry Michelle Forbes. Spacey and Whaley's interplay in key scenes is riveting, and for the most part, the younger Whaley manages to stay out of Spacey's shadow.

The movie's ending is quite unforeseeable, and its message can be construed either as darkly humorous satire against Hollywood, or as a nihilistic comment on the ways of mankind. Judging by the not-so-humorous tone of the movie (though ludicrously enough it was marketed as a comedy), to me it feels like the latter applies. Definitely worth seeing, even if only for Spacey. 8/10

I was so depressed after watching "The Men Who Stare At Goats" that I actively sought out Kevin Spacey movies to help redeem my perceptions of him. I saw "K-Pax" last week, which was adequately engaging, then found "Swimming with Sharks" on the IFC. What a find! This low-cost(less than $1M) film must not have had a very big marketing budget -- it completely escaped me at the time -- but it's one of the best performances Kevin Spacey I've ever seen. An abusive, self-indulgent, arrogant boss in the film industry, his role easily translates into that of a recognizable evil boss in any field. Spacey nicely runs the gamut of expression from god-like to humbled. His once-idealistic assistant is played by Frank Whaley, who never really saw his full potential subsequently develop in his career but has had nice turns in Pulp Fiction and a number of high-production TV series. Whaley too should be commended for his ability to grow the character from a wide-eyed beginning his dream job, to a vengeful warrior out for blood. The film centers on the dysfunctional relationship between these two and is weak only when it attempts to introduce minor roles featuring Michelle Forbes (Maryann on "True Blood") and Benecio del Toro (though these actors perform well with what they've been given).