

Swimming with Sharks

Guy is a young film executive who's willing to do whatever it takes to make it in Hollywood. He begins working for famed producer Buddy Ackerman, a domineering, manipulative, coldhearted boss. When Guy also finds out that his cynical girlfriend, Dawn, has been using sex as a career move, he reaches his limit. Guy decides to exact revenge on Buddy by kidnapping him and subjecting him to cruel and unusual punishment.
Not entirely what you'd expect from the promo art, this strange hybrid of chilling suspense and black comedy bears a surprisingly deep, developed cast of characters and a bitter, intense message about the origins of a corporate monster. Kevin Spacey is at his usual best as the pompous, demeaning studio executive with a finger in every pie, while journeyman Frank Whaley (Brett from Pulp Fiction) overplays the wide-eyed, naïve farmboy act as Spacey's hapless assistant on the edge of a breakdown.
While early scenes hint this is just another predictable, pull-for-the-little-man light comedy, the narrative's regular flashes forward in the timeline paint a larger, more sinister picture. When the dust settles, Spacey is revealed to be far more complicated and damaged than he lets on, Whaley has worked himself into a deep, dark pit of trouble and neither man is who they were at the outset. Bewildering at times due to the jolting changes in tone and atmosphere, it lingers with the viewer well after the credits have rolled.