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

A dark comedy worth seeing

If you go to the movies to feel good about life, to feel all warm and fuzzy about the world around you, then "Rick" isn't for you. However, if you delight in stories that revel in the darker side of human nature, that have a nasty sense of humor, then this incredibly dark comedy might be just the film for you.

Based on Verdi's opera, "Rigoletto," editor-turned-director Curtiss Clayton brings to life a script by Daniel Handler, better known to audiences as the "Lemony Snicket" author. In "Rick," Bill Pullman plays the title character, a man who works at a company called Image, though we're never told what exactly he or the company do. His boss Duke, almost half Rick's age, engages in machismo talk and has a penchant for online chats on a porn I'm service.

To reveal more would be to destroy much of the fun of this very wicked film.

"Rick" actually goes way beyond dark comedy. Pullman gains tremendous glee from playing someone loathsome. Come to think of it, with the exception of Rick's teen-age daughter Eve (played by the marvelously talented young actress Agnes Bruckner), there really aren't any likable people in this movie.

And Eve, who's the only one who sees the good in her dad, isn't exactly squeaky clean. She gets her kicks by "talking" dirty on the Internet. Bruckner, whose depiction of an emotionally scarred high school student in "Blue Car" was one of last year's highlights, finds just the right mix of confidence and innocence to make Eve believable.

Often, it is hard to be absorbed by a film where none of the characters seems to have any redeeming virtues. But, strangely, "Rick" manages to hook us. Mostly because we're initially intrigued by who these people are and why they behave so despicably. Watching Rick berate a woman interviewing for a job is uncomfortable. Yet, there's something hypnotic about the whole sequence.

This is extremely broad social satire veering into the absurd. This film is filed with several odd moments. The interview aside, there's the initial macho gamesmanship between Rick and Duke (played by Aaron Stanford as a slimy creature, quite a departure from playing 15-year-old Oscar Grubman in "Tadpole"). Then there's Buck (Dylan Baker), who meets Rick in a bar where people spy on other patrons. Buck tells Rick he runs his own company. There's a funny joke about that when Rick sees Buck's business card.

"Rick" is by no means a perfect dark comedy. But it definitely has a strange way of keeping you interested in its characters. They may not be likable but, damn it, they're most certainly intriguing and captivating. If you're in the mood for something out of the ordinary and you relish films that dabble in morally decrepit people, give "Rick" a peek. I've seen better films this year, but this one will stick in my mind for a long time.