The Last Shot (2004)

Lots of tossed-off wisecracks and funny lines in this movie. "I see you're lookin' at my face. My wife set me on fire while I was asleep. Squirted lighter fluid all over me. Six months later the marriage fell apart." Six months later? Fell APART? The story is simple enough. Baldwin, an FBI agent, hooks an unknowing Broderick into making a movie in Providence, Rhode Island, as a sting operation to nail John Gotti. The operation fails but the movie isn't really about Gotti or crime anyway. It's about two goofs who get swept up in an obsession to make a movie that's set in the Arizona desert. The FBI supplies them with just enough money to begin casting the "production". When the notice appears in Variety they get volunteer offers from academy-nominated actress Emily French (Toni Collet), Pat Morita, and Russel Means. The fantasy begins to turn so real that the original goal is forgotten and the artistic adventure acquires functional autonomy. Ars Gratia Arse, so to speak.The movie pokes a lot of fun at the Hollywood community. Russel Mean is supposed to play a character named Chief Blackbear, however he is informed that the name must be changed to Chief Blackhawk. He looks a bit taken aback and muses, "I guess I'll have to learn to manage that." Calista Flockheart's character punctures her thigh with a fork to arouse "sensory memories." Over dinner in a fancy restaurant, Colett rapidly runs through her physical and psychiatric history to a stunned Baldwin and Broderick and winds up peeing into an empty wine glass to show how she is tested for drugs every six months, while the other customers stop eating and the piano music comes to a halt.It's pretty amusing. Not so much the story as the exchanges between the characters that are written into the script. (The editor holds on a bit too long sometimes after the gags, waiting for the laughter to subside.) There's something rather sad about the ending, when the FBI forcibly shuts down the production -- kind of like "The Teahouse of the August Moon." Everyone is having such a ball that it seems tragic to have to get back to business.Yet, though the movie is amusing, it's not outrageously so. Anyone who wants to see a comedy about making a phony movie should rent "After the Fox," which in its combination of Italian over-the-top bombast and Jewish repartee is a classic of its kind.This one is worth catching though and offers some good laughs. The difference between the seasoned FBI agent, Baldwin, who has dealt with low lifes, and the ambitious director, Broderick, who was raised in the company town of Hollywood, is perfectly captured in a single exchange. The fake producer Baldwin makes up a story about the death of his fictitious wife. Broderick is sorry to hear that and asks, "Was she in the business?" Baldwin turns to stare at him -- for a long time -- and then asks, "Why would I marry a whore?"

Some satires about the process of making movies point out to the craziness that process creates among the people involved, which is the idea behind "The Last Shot". It also depicts how most projects go through transformations the people that wrote them, as different people that know nothing about movies get involved.Jeff Nathanson, the director and screen play writer of this funny movie has clear ideas about the concept that too many cooks spoil the broth. He has combined two different elements in his conception of the film. On the one level, there is the FBI investigation on racketeers and on the other, he brings a man who yearns to direct movies into the picture by offering him a phony deal in which supposedly a film is going to be produced, but only as a cover up to trap a mafioso in Rhode Island.The idea of recruiting Steven Schats, an employee of the Graunman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood to direct his film "Arizona", is something that Joe Devine, an FBI man, dreams to get the results he wants. The film, which makes no sense at all, undergoes a change when Joe tells Steven the production will be shot in Providence, in order to take advantage of a deal with that state's cooperation with the movie industry. The young director gets horrified when he discovers how dissimilar the new location is in comparison with the real Arizona.The plot gets complicated as Tommy Sanz, the mafioso who decides to cooperate in letting the movie company use the trucks he controls, to the production company in exchange of an executive producer credit in the movie. The arrival of Emily French, an actress of obscure talent, but with great physical attributes, contribute to create more confusion in the preparation of the movie. Also, Steven's girlfriend, Valerie, and his brother, Marshal, show up to make matters worse.Alec Baldwin plays Joe Devine, the producer with great charm. Matthew Broderick also has an opportunity to shine in the movie. The wonderful Toni Collette appears as the sexy Emily French in great form. Tony Shalhoub is seen as Tommy Sanz, the racketeer. Calista Flockhart, Tim Blake Nelson, Buck Henry, James Rebhorn, do good work in the film. Joan Cusack makes the most of her character and a cameo by Ray Liotta round up the familiar faces in the movie."The Last Shot" is a delightful movie to watch as it's clear the director, Jeff Nathanson, clearly understands what make these people tick.

Recap: FBI-agent Joe Devine has an idea. It's an unorthodox idea that might lead directly to the arrests and conviction of several key mafia members. He just needs to produce a movie. He recruits Steven Schats, a struggling writer/director. It's not hard either to convince or to lead poor Steven, who thinks he might finally get his chance, to film his Arizona-set movie in Providence. A landfill is rebuilt to Grand Canyon, a rental storage converted to a cave and so on. And then the nominated Emily French appears and wants the leading role. Everything seems to go great, and Joe likes to produce the movie. But his bosses at FBI are not convinced he really has to make the movie to get the bad guys...Comments: A great story, based on a true story none the less. It is a shame that nothing better than this came of it. Sure there are some odd moments or peculiar things that happens, some witty dialog but they are far between. Moments to laugh about even scarcer. And when it is finally starting to get interesting, when they start to shoot the movie (think about potential complications with a garbage Grand Canyon, or mafia involvement in the movie like casting known hit men and so on) and one thinks that the fun is about to start, the director of the FBI shows up and cancels the project. End of movie.I don't think there are any poor performances from the actors, I just think they never got a chance to do anything. The cast includes totally wasted talent. Funny Shalhoub is cast as a serious mobster, Broderick's character never got any chance to evolve, Flockhart who plays Stevens hysterical girlfriend might have done well with more space, and I think Liotta appears in just two scenes. The only actor that delivered about what I expected was Baldwin, that calmly played agent Devine in a nice way.No, I expected more from this. A lot more. I think both cast and story was totally mishandled. A documentary of the real event might be funnier...4/10

THE LAST SHOT is best viewed with a bit of info to let the patient viewer understand what is coming. The opening titles are clever, dealing with movie paraphernalia that serve as matrices for the stars and production staff names and should give a sense of what is to come. But it isn't until the first 20 or so minutes into the film that the significance of the movie can be appreciated.Based on an apparently true news article, THE LAST SHOT takes a pot shot at not only Hollywood, but also organized crime, production magnates, the FBI, and little people with big dreams lost in the elusive utopia of fame.The plot is well outlined on these pages. Suffice it to say that the FBI sends Joe Devine (Alec Baldwin) to Hollywood to pose as a producer to lure the underground crime lord Tommy Sanz (Tony Shalhoub) to surface and be caught. Devine needs a script as he discovers from the gross Fanny Nash (Joan Cusack at her hilarious best) and gradually encounters Steven Schats (Matthew Broderick) who with his pathetic brother Marshall Paris (Tim Blake Nelson) has written an unmarketable, non-salable script called 'Arizona'. Devine grabs on to the project, making Schats the director (his dream come true) and casts the film with has-been actress with box office draw Emily French (Toni Collette who looks terrific and adds yet another priceless cameo to her brilliant repertoire) and Valerie Weston (Calista Flockhart) who just happens to be Schats' squeeze.The process of film-making and the infectious delirium of Hollywood affects everyone in this film - even the FBI and especially Devine who softens into a man who wants to provide the 'littleman' Schats with his dream. The humor is broad, WAY over the top, crude, and slapstick and in so many ways this movie mimics all of the intangible oddities that make Hollywood what it is. The performances by Baldwin, Broderick, Cusack, Flockhart - and, well, all of the inserted cameos - are excellent. Once you get the premise of this film it moves from being inane to being a really terrific parody with some sensitive metaphors. Grady Harp