The Deal (2005)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Harvey Kahn

Writer:

Ruth Epstein (written by)

Release Date:

17 June 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The world is at war.

Plot:

A political thriller steeped in illegal oil trading, the Russian Mafia, and governmental cover-ups. |

Plot Keywords:

Political Thriller | Evil Corporation | Cleaning Lady | Airplane | Board Meeting

Cast

Christian Slater	...	Tom Hanson
Selma Blair	...	Abbey Gallagher
Robert Loggia	...	Jared Tolson
Colm Feore	...	Hank Weiss
Angie Harmon	...	Anna
John Heard	...	Professor Roseman
Kevin Tighe	...	John Cortland
Philip Granger	...	Jerome Halliday
Françoise Yip	...	Janice Long
Jim Thorburn	...	Shane Waller
Paul McGillion	...	Richard Kester
Christine Lippa	...	Lucy Rahlston
Jennifer Clement	...	Sara Kester
Mike Dopud	...	Theo Gorbov
Vyacheslav Vinnik	...	Nicholai Chernoff

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some violence.

Runtime:

USA:107 min | Argentina:108 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | USA:R (certificate #41237) | Singapore:NC-16 (cut) | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Front Street Productions

Quotes:

[from trailer]
Tom Hanson: You have a great smile.
Abbey Gallagher: The sexual harassment has got to stop.

Movie Connections:

References Wall Street (1987)

Soundtrack:

Shoot Out The Candy Shop

Uneven

It's rough to call something people worked on so hard for 'uneven' but there it is. The Deal is, simply put, about a 'deal'. It's a Wall Street thriller. And at the other end of the deal is oil. A planet in trouble where the carbon monoxide level is the highest it's been in three quarters of a million years, where 50,000,000 people are estimated to be on the run from climate catastrophes within four years, where the top twenty two median temperatures have been recorded in the past twenty six years, and so forth.

It's been done before and it will be done again until the dependence on fossil fuels is ended, until the electric car is allowed to proliferate, until the oil barons get their hands off the automobile industry, until things settle down in the middle east, and so forth.

Everyone does a fair job in this one except Angie. Sorry Angie, but for reasons that can't be exposed here but that will become apparent to viewers you just don't cut it.

The movie's uneven because its thrill factor is propelled through at least half way by withholding important facts about the plot. And at that point you just have to see everything turns out all right with the usual modicum of plot devices tossed in.