‘School for Scoundrels’ Download and Reviews
“School for Scoundrels” Movie Details
School for Scoundrels tagline: Too nice? Too honest? Too *you*? Help is on the way.
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| Directors: Todd Phillips | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IMDB Rating: 6.0/10 out of 14,536 votes |
“School for Scoundrels” Movie Review
“School for Scoundrels” Plot Summary
A young guy short on luck, enrolls in a class to build confidence to help win over the girl of his dreams, which becomes complicated when his teacher has the same agenda. add synopsis
Fun to watch
There was a decent but not outstanding British comedy (1960) by the same name as this film, starring that great comic actor Alastair Sim, who also was wonderful as Scrooge in 1951’s Christmas Carol. It was based loosely (the books resemble self-improvement manuals) on Stephen Potter’s well-worth reading ‘One Upmanship’ and ‘Lifemanship’ books. Those hilarious best-selling books provide the reader with a guide as to how to use guile to get even with someone you identify as worthy of getting even with, or as Potter put it, ‘creative intimidation.’ To some extent the 2006 ‘School for Scoundrels’ could also be said to be based on those Potter books. While the original books and the 1960 film envisioned a small private college that taught the art of being one-up (if you are not one up, you’re one down), the 2006 version is a single self-improvement course taught secretly by a masterful rogue (Billy Bob Thornton) who calls himself Dr. P, to a group of low self-esteem ‘losers.’ His course resembles extreme confidence building sink or swim exercises more than one-upmanship. But he also goes one-on-one to put down the best of his students. It is explained that Dr. P is very competitive and shoots down anyone who might approach his level of skill. When facially challenged Roger (Jon Heder) unexpectedly is standing out as the best of his class, a one-upmanship contest between the master and the student gets underway
This is a fun film to watch; not at all sophomoric and not leaning on the slapstick approach. In addition to the two leads, the rest of the cast includes, among others, well known comic Sarah Silverman and comic actor Ben Stiller. Stiller is about as good as he gets (he is usually in films that are not my taste in comedy, although I recently saw him in something I really enjoyed.) On the other hand, the lines given to Sarah Silverman just make her character brassy rather than funny and are not up to the caliber of her stand-up comedy that she writes for herself.
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‘The Informant!’ Download and Reviews
“The Informant!” Movie Details
The Informant! tagline: Based on a tattle-tale
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| Directors: Steven Soderbergh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IMDB Rating: 7.0/10 out of 9,354 votes |
“The Informant!” Movie Review
“The Informant!” Plot Summary
The U.S. government decides to go after an agri-business giant with a price-fixing accusation, based on the evidence submitted by their star witness, vice president turned informant Mark Whitacre.
Wow! What a ride; lot’s of memories The Informant!
The beauty of the film is Matt Damon without question. Starring in so many action/dramas of late, it’s great to see him going the comedy route. The guy was in Kevin Smith films and hammed it up in the Ocean’s movies as well, but here he has center stage to show the kind of chops he has in the genre. With hair resembling a bad toupee and a pedophilic moustache, his Whitacre is mid-90s businessman elite, only with a conscience sort of. A lover of crime films and courtroom dramas, he begins to live his life as though he is in one himself. When describing what is going on to the FBI at one point, he breaks out with the line, ‘It’s like Rising Sun, the Crichton novel,’ or during a voice-over he begins to compare everything to The Firm. He sees that his company, a corn producer and therefore having its hands in pretty much every consumer product on the market, is criminally involved with competitors to fix prices and steal from their respective publics. Wanting to be the hero and save the dayhopefully with an endgame of being the only person left and in effect handed the companyhe decides to fabricate a story to get the FBI in his sights and then pounces, taking part in a two year sting operation to bring Archer Daniels Midland down
Soderbergh was live and in person at the TIFF screening I attended and, after being introduced as having been there twenty years previous with his debut feature, said, ‘(There’s) no sex, no videotapes, but enough lies to last another twenty years.’ And boy was he right. As the movie progresses, you not only become aware of the lies being told in the company, but also the information Whitacre himself is withholding from the FBI, then from his lawyers, and inevitably from everyone. By the end, you can’t help but wonder what exactly was the truththe whole thing is just one big lie. I would love to know what the real Whitacre thinks about this representation. Does he enjoy the exaggerated caricature? Does he hate it because the imbecilic nature at the core of Damon’s role hits too close to home? The activities portrayed are so off the wall and zany that I have to believe screenwriter Scott Z. Burns and Soderbergh just used the outline of fact and made it completely their own. My only complaint would be that it goes maybe ten to twenty minutes too long, finding a repetition that soon becomes obvious and lacking of the witty charm of the start
With a cast of familiar faces and even some comic greatsThe Smothers Brothersit is still Damon that shines above all. His delivery is priceless and his facial expressions genuinely childlike in their enthusiasm. The entire film has him playing this game, unaware of how deep he was getting in and unaware that his extracurricular activities, to be exposed towards the end, made him a hypocrite. As long as he is the center of attention, being the man in the white hat taking down the bad guys with his FBI cohorts in tow, nothing else matters. Speaking of the agents, how great is it seeing Scott Bakula sinking his teeth into a lengthy role again? His straightman to Damon’s goof could not be played more perfectly. And then you get Joel McHale of ‘The Soup’ fame to play the most serious government agent in the world? It’s just Soderbergh having fun with preconceptions, actually casting many comics in serious roles while Jason Bourne himself schlubs around with a permanent cheesy smile plastered on his face
What transpires is funny enough, if just due to the fact a huge criminal investigation is occurring with a moron at its center, risking exposure every second. So excited that he is starring in his own version of all the sitcom television and pulp Hollywood movies he enjoys, the wonderment of having his own tape recorder hidden in his briefcase necessitates him to show someone how cool it is. He is 0014 after all, twice as smart as 007. But what works even better than the actual story is his mind itself. The epitome of Attention Deficit Disorder, Mark Whitacre loses his train of thought on a regular basis. At first you think you may be missing something as a character responds to a question and Damon’s voice-over drowns it out. While important information is being relayed, all we hear are the ramblings of a crazy man, the most mundane things popping into his head as he smiles and nods. Some of these one-liners are so great you almost watch what’s happening to get to the next tangent his brain wanders off towards
So, whether or not the film itself is an accurate portrayal of the subject matter it’s based on is a moot point. The real subject becomes finding out what will happen to Whitacre when the dust settles. Naive to the core, we all know he is due a wakeup call at some point, even if his FBI handlers think he is the bravest man in America doing it all because he has a wife and kids and a sense of moral responsibility. If only they knew he just did it for the rush of excitement and because he couldn’t think past step number one. Why comprehend that unearthing all the wheelings and dealings of a company he held a high position with could cost him his career when you can just enjoy the present and have fun living a duplicitous life? Do not feel sorry for him and do not question his motiveshe really doesn’t have any. Just take a seat and be ready to laugh hard.
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