Middle Men (2009)

Chronicles Jack Harris, one of the pioneers of internet commerce, as he wrestles with his morals, and struggles not to drown in a sea of con men, mobsters, drug addicts, and porn stars.

Director:

George Gallo

Writers:

George Gallo, Andy Weiss

Stars:

Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, Gabriel Macht

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Luke Wilson	...	Jack Harris
Giovanni Ribisi	...	Wayne Beering
Gabriel Macht	...	Buck Dolby
James Caan	...	Jerry Haggerty
Jacinda Barrett	...	Diana Harris
Kevin Pollak	...	Curt Allmans
Laura Ramsey	...	Audrey Dawns
Rade Serbedzija	...	Nikita Sokoloff
Terry Crews	...	James
Kelsey Grammer	...	Frank Griffin
Graham McTavish	...	Ivan Sokoloff
Robert Forster	...	Louie LA LA
John Ashton	...	Morgan
Jason Antoon	...	Denny Z
Martin Kove	...	US Senator

Storyline

Wayne Beering and Buck Dolby are drugged out geniuses with lots of ideas but they can never seem to get their act together. But when they come up with the idea to create a porn site - and charge for it (the first ever site to do so), their idea may be too lucrative for them to handle. Straight-laced business man, Jack Harris, is brought in to team up with them and turn their profitable idea into a legit business. Making money in the pornography industry is pretty easy, but staying true to yourself when surrounded by that much wealth, luxury, sex, crime and temptations, is much harder.

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Plot Keywords:

bare breasts | female nudity | topless female nudity | female rear nudity | nudity | 

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Taglines:

In 1995, music was still bought in record stores. There was a VCR in every house. And you couldn't buy anything online ... until they came along.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, language, drug use and violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

Based on the true story of Christopher Mallick, one of the producers of the movie. He still owns an internet billing company.

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Goofs

Due to the frequent use of sunglasses throughout the film all sorts of equipment and crew can be seen in the reflection of the glasses.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Jack Harris: [narrating] I had several million dollars in a duffle bag and had to go and see a bunch of low-life Russian mobsters who would most likely cut my throat, take the money, and kill an innocent kid just for sport. It doesn't get any worse than this. But I had no one to blame but myself. I'm the one who put myself and my family in this situation.
Jack Harris: See, life's all about choices, choices we keep telling ourselves are for the greater good. But somewhere deep inside, we know they'll lead to a...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Late Show with David Letterman: Luke Wilson/Kristen Schaal/Dierks Bentley (2010)

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Soundtracks

In The Moment
Written by Ted Silbert
Performed by tedhed
Courtesy of Silbert Music

User Reviews

An extremely entertaining dark comedy, Underrated Film!

I've always been a fan of Luke Wilson, and have preferred his work over Owen's. Middle Men is not your typical Luke Wilson comedy, It's much rather a cross between a Guy Ritchie and Martin Scorsese movie. That's not a bad thing by any means. What Middle Men will do is keep you entertained and engaged from beginning to end. Whether it's Wayne & Buck arguing back and forth, or Jack's ability or lack thereof,of balancing his family life and business.

The cast is pretty impressive with James Caan and Kevin Pollack also lending their talents. Everyone played their part well especially Giovanni Ribisi's performance as the coke'd up "Wayne Beering". His mannerism's and habit's were entertaining.

Overall I loved this film for what it was, a dark comedy centred around the internet porn industry. The soundtrack is great, which i might add is very "Scorsese esque". Loved the use of 2 Pac's California Love =) It's an intelligent film full of dark humour about pornography. My only gripes with Middle Men would be the pacing of the story, i feel if they had a longer runtime it would have flowed through effortlessly. They are minor issues though, they balanced the comedy well with the crime elements of the plot. It should be said that "Middle Men" is very underrated, and I would recommend it to fan's of dark humour and pornography, which after watching this movie, is every male living on the planet. Check it out, you won't regret it.

Details

Official Sites:

MySpace Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 August 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Middle Men

Filming Locations:

Avondale, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$325,641, 8 August 2010

Gross USA:

$754,301

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$754,301

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Mallick Media, Oxymoron Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1