The Man

Review by Clint Morris

Note to New Line: Check out the competition from time to time. Just a few short calendar markings ago an expensive little two-hander called Bad Company hit the ‘plexes. It teamed Academy Award Winning Anthony Hopkins with sometime funnyman Chris Rock.

Yep, quite a risk putting a big-time actor with someone that’s clearly not. The result? Jerry Bruckheimer had to take a second mortgage out on his beach house.

Funny then that Shaye’s crowd should greenlight The Man, a film that flogs every single element from the above stinker – including teaming a megastar with an easy catch – and doesn’t even try to improve on what went wrong with the precursor. Bad Company didn’t have much of a story, but it had one, The Man has nothing even resembling a plot, simply a series of unfunny conversations (usually filmed in a moving car) that take us up to about the 70-minute-mark, at which point the movie winds down.

Samuel L. Jackson plays the cop trying to catch some gun smugglers. Eugene Levy plays the dentist who inadvertently gets in the way of the operation. They’re thrown together. The audience yawns.

It’s not surprising to see Eugene Levy here. Besides the fact that he pretty says ‘yes’ to everything at the moment – seemingly taking the bull by the horns since his comeback in American Pie – it’s a character that does suit him – to an extent. Originally however, in an earlier version of the film, his character had a lot more to do, and was more likeable than sheer trying, which is all he is now.

The biggest disappointment of the movie though is Samuel L.Jackson - who phones in his performance from the Bahamas. If you thought Jackson sold out by doing the Star Wars movies – get a load of this. He’s plain irksome in this, seemingly trying to again ooze the coolness we’ve seen him display in earlier movies but instead coming across as boastful and enormously repellent. This is a character that even Mace Windu would wanna slap.

Like one of those tryhards from your school days, it might think it is, but it’s all talk. There’s no way this thing’s The Man.

DVD Extras

Extras include deleted scenes and some behind-the-scenes stuff….. but trying to get through those is like sitting through a 14-hour-marathon of The Golden Palace. 

Conclusion: Movie 10% Extras: 10%