A computer programmer's dream job at a hot Portland-based firm turns nightmarish when he discovers his boss has a secret and ruthless means of dispatching anti-trust problems.
This movie is the fictional story of computer programming genius Milo Hoffman after graduating from Stanford and getting out into the competitive world of computer software. In his contemplation of where to begin his career, he is contacted by Gary Winston whose character is loosely based on Bill Gates. Winston is the CEO of a company called NURV, and they are on the brink of completing the global communication's system, Synapse. They need Hoffman to help them meet their launch date, so after much thought and with the full support of his girlfriend Alice, he accepts the job. Tragedy soon after strikes and Milo becomes suspicious of the company he has been wrapped up in. He learns that trusting anyone could be a mistake, and that nothing is as it seems.Written by
Jordan Thornsburg
Claire Forlani drives a Citroën 2 CV. Milo's SUV is a Mercedes ML. See more »
Goofs
Scene with Milo & Lisa talking about how they are going to go public with the news about Gary. During the exchange one of the cuts to Milo his eyeglasses move independent of his head. (Milo's head, eyes, brows, don't move but his glasses shift quickly back and worth.) Not as easily seen on a computer but a larger screen it's clearly a mediocre CGI application. Apparently actor (Ryan P) didn't have the glasses on during one of the takes but it wasn't identified until later and it was only a line (one of the cuts from Lisa to Milo where it occurs). I just thought it was ODD when I saw the glasses wobble on their own. See more »
Quotes
Milo:
Now I'm going to go out on a limb here because there's a very good chance you're not going to believe a word of what I'm about to tell you.
Bob Shrot:
You'd be surprised what I'd believe about these people.
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Crazy Credits
Closing disclaimer: Stanford University has not endorsed this motion picture and no filming took place on the Stanford campus. There are a number of other entities and persons with names which may be the same or similar to those used in this motion picture. However, this motion picture is entirely fictional and (except for minor incidental references) is not intended to depict or refer to any other existing entities or persons and any such references are purely coincidental. See more »
Alternate Versions
Region 4 DVD comes with the following deleted scenes:
"Lisa's Duplicity" - Lisa confides in Milo that her journal that goes missing and then is returned.
"Milo & Lisa" - Milo and Lisa sleep together
"Alice's Suspicion" - Alice is suspicious of Milo and Lisa and quizes him over where he was.
"Lisa Gets Caught" - When Lisa is taking photos of the satellite dishes, she is caught by a security guard.
"Gary & Milo's Game" - Gary Winston asks Milo to help him in a game of Diablo.
"Sleeping With The Enemy" - Milo has rough sex with Alice after he finds out that Alice was sent to spy on him.
"The Rise And Fall of NURV" - An alternate opening & ending sequence. Opening Sequence is a speech by Gary Winston in front of the NURV logo, at his online presentation. Milo is typing away at a computer watching him. The Ending Sequence is Gary Winston preparing his statement for the press. We then hear him start to cry. Milo & Alice are trying to get out of the compound and are stopped at the gate, it doesn't open until a car coming into the compound flashes an FBI badge and enters. Milo and Alice then drive out while the gate is still open. We then see the NURV logo as seen in the opening deleted sequence and hear different media reports until the end. The final media report states ".. Nurv's monopoly over the software industry is over"
This is an incredibly bad film. It fails in just about every possible area, from script to "technology" to acting to directing. I have a theory about films like this. There is an old saying that you can never underestimate the intelligence of the public. Movies like this are obviously created by people who live and breath that mantra. As they are making it, I'm sure many people are sitting around screaming that this makes not sense, but they just say it doesn't have to. And yet another bad film gets made.
I object most vehemently to three major elements of this film:
1. The geek stereotype! This film is the most insulting presentation of Computer Scientists that I have ever seen. It is obvious that no geek could every have a girlfriend that looks that good and girlfriends in general are rare at a software company. None of them have a life. They all dress badly. One is referred to as "stinker". Not one programmer in this film is presented as a professional. Any concept of a software project management structure is ignored.
2. The technology. You can't look at a screen of code and tell what an entire program will do. Huge systems are not written by one person. The system does not know when you have "finished" a module and inform you that you are done. You can't access a satellite by its IP address. You can't take over all of the worlds communications with any company's satellite network. I could go on and on. They are bound to have had consultants on that film or at least the local systems staff who would tell them this was all dumb.
3. Information wants to be free. This is practically a mantra in the film and was clearly planted to try to get the open-source people to watch the film. So, are they releasing this film without a copyright? They sure preached at me enough. And, this mantra is portrayed as the fundamental belief of the open-source community. In reality, most open-source advocates believe that they have an obligation to release what they have done, but don't believe they have some right to other peoples work. This matra gets preached in the movie without a shred of debate or discussion. It's stupid.
This film also avoided dealing with real issues such as antitrust violations, cloning source you have add access to, buying out competition, and other issues that would have make this an interesting film in the same vein as Wall Street. Instead, it turns into the standard "giant conspiracy" story with lots and lots of gun-toting bad guys. You can tell they took the cast, tossed them into a bin, and pulled out the names of who would get to be the few good guys. It's a tried and not so true plot line and it's just plain dull. They buy this script in a store and just fill in the blanks.
Don't waste your time.
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This is an incredibly bad film. It fails in just about every possible area, from script to "technology" to acting to directing. I have a theory about films like this. There is an old saying that you can never underestimate the intelligence of the public. Movies like this are obviously created by people who live and breath that mantra. As they are making it, I'm sure many people are sitting around screaming that this makes not sense, but they just say it doesn't have to. And yet another bad film gets made.
I object most vehemently to three major elements of this film:
1. The geek stereotype! This film is the most insulting presentation of Computer Scientists that I have ever seen. It is obvious that no geek could every have a girlfriend that looks that good and girlfriends in general are rare at a software company. None of them have a life. They all dress badly. One is referred to as "stinker". Not one programmer in this film is presented as a professional. Any concept of a software project management structure is ignored.
2. The technology. You can't look at a screen of code and tell what an entire program will do. Huge systems are not written by one person. The system does not know when you have "finished" a module and inform you that you are done. You can't access a satellite by its IP address. You can't take over all of the worlds communications with any company's satellite network. I could go on and on. They are bound to have had consultants on that film or at least the local systems staff who would tell them this was all dumb.
3. Information wants to be free. This is practically a mantra in the film and was clearly planted to try to get the open-source people to watch the film. So, are they releasing this film without a copyright? They sure preached at me enough. And, this mantra is portrayed as the fundamental belief of the open-source community. In reality, most open-source advocates believe that they have an obligation to release what they have done, but don't believe they have some right to other peoples work. This matra gets preached in the movie without a shred of debate or discussion. It's stupid.
This film also avoided dealing with real issues such as antitrust violations, cloning source you have add access to, buying out competition, and other issues that would have make this an interesting film in the same vein as Wall Street. Instead, it turns into the standard "giant conspiracy" story with lots and lots of gun-toting bad guys. You can tell they took the cast, tossed them into a bin, and pulled out the names of who would get to be the few good guys. It's a tried and not so true plot line and it's just plain dull. They buy this script in a store and just fill in the blanks.
Don't waste your time.