The Last Shot (2004)

A movie director-screenwriter finds a man to finance his latest project but soon discovers that the producer is actually an undercover FBI agent working on a mob sting operation.

Director:

Jeff Nathanson

Writers:

Steve Fishman (article), Jeff Nathanson

Stars:

Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Toni Collette

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew Broderick	...	Steven Schats
Alec Baldwin	...	Joe Devine
Toni Collette	...	Emily French
Tony Shalhoub	...	Tommy Sanz
Calista Flockhart	...	Valerie Weston
Tim Blake Nelson	...	Marshal Paris
Buck Henry	...	Lonnie Bosco
Ray Liotta	...	Jack Devine
Ian Gomez	...	Agent Nance
Troy Winbush	...	Agent Ray Dawson
Thomas McCarthy	...	Agent Pike (as Tom McCarthy)
W. Earl Brown	...	Willie Gratzo
Evan Jones	...	Troy Haines
Glenn Morshower	...	Agent McCaffrey
James Rebhorn	...	Abe White

Storyline

FBI director Jack Devine always sets up his brother Joe as undercover to trick mobsters. His latest cover is as movie producer Joe Diamond, to get Tommy Sanz for Teamster racketeering. His cover requires a script - the one movie theater manager Steven Schats and his brother Marshall 'Paris' wrote, supposedly a cancer biopic. So Steven is hired as director, his greatest dream, even if producing an Arizona desert drama on Rhode Island is far from ideal. When a former Oscar nominee volunteers to star, the cover gets out of hand till everyone believes in it, even the FBI brass- or not?

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Plot Keywords:

fbi | undercover | movie producer | sting operation | fbi agent | 

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Taglines:

The true story of the greatest movie never made.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Touchstone [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 November 2004 (Brazil)

Also Known As:

Providence

Filming Locations:

Grauman's Chinese Theater - 6925 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$164,801 (USA) (24 September 2004)

Gross:

$463,730 (USA) (12 November 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Morra, Brezner, Steinberg and Tenenbaum Entertainment (MBST), Mandeville Films, Burro Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie was based on the real life FBI sting operation in the 1980s to infiltrate the Boston mob teamsters. An FBI agent went undercover as a movie studio executive and contracted George Moffly, an aspiring filmmaker, to create it. Throughout the whole time George had no idea that he was making a fake movie. The sting only captured a few minor Mob members. The details of this unusual story can be found in a GQ article (March 2000).

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Goofs

When Agent Divine is watching the dog in the kennel in Hollywood you can see a red chewing toy next to the dog. In the next shot of the dog the toy is gone.

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Quotes

Lonnie Bosco: Where's the meeting?
Steven Schats: Musso & Frank's.
Lonnie Bosco: You're in luck! I got a blow job at Musso & Frank's.

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Crazy Credits

In the middle of the closing credits, a scene with Steven is shown where he has a new girlfriend, a deaf one this time to tackle the "barking dog" problem.

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Connections

References Star Angel (1986)

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Soundtracks

"Looks Like We Made It"
(1976)
Written by Richard Kerr and Will Jennings

User Reviews

A work of film

I suppose I went to this movie for the actors: enigmatic Alec Baldwim, charming Matthew Broderick, turned-sardonic Tony Shalhoub, mafia man Ray Liotta (who resembles a "cappo di tutti cappo" even as the director of the FBI) and thin Calista Flockhart. In the end I came to like it because of what it actually is: a frank story about goodness and dreams and not "another" cover up story for a gang heist.

So you've got undercover agent Joe (Baldwin) who is so dedicated to his job, that he lets someone cut his finger off, just in order to get a longer sentence. Then there's Steven (Broderick), a want-to-be film director, who's still searching for his pot of gold...ah, luck. The rest of the characters orbit gently around these two propellers, spawning a genuine web of film-making personnel. Joe and Steven get to know each other when the detective plans to frame a certain low-ranker of the notorious Gotti family (in this particular case, Tommy Sanz, played by Shalhoub) and decides to pose as a film producer in order to fulfill his assignment. He meets Steven, the fate less anonymous screenwriter and the cameras start rolling...well, more or less.

The film proves to be a productive comedy - as in you'll get plenty of chances to prove your laughing capabilities - and is also dubbed by a layer of "sensfullness", meaning it's a smart comedy. Not all the time,I have to admit, but often enough. If I were to compare it with, let's say, "Get Shorty", a rather similar movie, I think I'd go for this one simply because its got more juice to squeeze. Director/screenwriter Nathanson efficiently parodies a lot of wacko attitudes of Hollywood, even though some of these particular scenes did seem to have been forced into the film. All in all, I'd say it's worth your time!

And one more thing...the intro credits are simply brilliant!