Rick (2003)

Director:

Curtiss Clayton

Writer:

Daniel Handler (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Envy, lust, murder...business as usual.

Plot:

"Rigoletto" retold at Christmas time in Manhattan's corporate world. Rick, an executive at Image, is a jerk to a woman applying for a job...

Plot Keywords:

Character Name In Title

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Bill Pullman	...	Rick O'Lette
Aaron Stanford	...	Duke
Agnes Bruckner	...	Eve O'Lette
Sandra Oh	...	Michelle
Dylan Baker	...	Buck
Emmanuelle Chriqui	...	Duke's Long-Suffering Wife
Marianne Hagan	...	Laura
Jerome Preston Bates	...	Lobby Guard
Jamie Harris	...	Mick
Paz de la Huerta	...	Vicki
Marin Rathje	...	Mrs. O'Lette in Picture
William Ryall	...	Rick's Doorman
Daniel Handler	...	Perky Waiter
Dennis Parlato	...	BusinessTalk Anchor
P.J. Brown	...	Jack Lantern

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content and language.

Runtime:

Canada:100 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA | USA:R

Company:

Big Boss LLC

Trivia:

Rick takes his daughter to dinner at Verdi's, a restaurant named after the composer of 'Rigoletto', the opera from which the movie is drawn. While they dine, the music playing in the background is "La donna è mobile", the Duke's aria from the last act of the opera.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Buck gives his business card to Rick, it has a '666' phone number, but when Rick uses the business card in Eve's bedroom to set up the hit, the phone number starts with '555'.

Quotes:

Michelle: Okay, you can do this Rick. You can humiliate me, and mock me, and insult me and get me fired.
Rick O'Lette: Look I didn't know...
Michelle: But you know what? You're still an evil person, Rick. You hurt an innocent person and you will pay for it. I curse you Rick. You're an evil person with an evil soul, and it'll come back to you, it will come right back at you. I curse you, Rick O'Lette. It will come right back at you.

Movie Connections:

Features American Psycho (2000)

Soundtrack:

Great Wooden Bridge

Rick O'Lette as Rigoletto

Rick, well received at the SXSW festival this year, is a faithful modernization of Giuseppe Verdi's 1851 tragic opera "Rigoletto," which was also a reworking of Victor Hugo's "Le Roi s'amuse." I did not realize this until the Q & A period following the film, and it made all the difference.

Without the tie to the opera, the film will be judged too much on the curse of believability, and that is a shame.

The trio of Pullman, Aaron Stanford as Duke a.k.a. Bigboss, and especially Agnes Bruckner pull off strong performances.

The dark moods and sound of the film are terrific, and the use of anonymous Internet sex chat to set up the relationship between Rick's boss and his daughter Eve (Agnes Bruckner) works well.

Rick does have some difficulties. The crucial misfire is an absurd plot contrivance used to set up a mistaken identity.

Director Curtiss Clayton has had difficulty distributing this film that has everything going against it in today's market - Pullman's unlikable main character Rick O'Lette, lack of a happy ending, and if Clayton mentions Rigoletto as the basis of the film, he is met with blank stares. Hopefully, he'll run into one opera-savvy distributor and get Rick beyond the film festivals, at least into the art houses.

8.5/10