Swimming with Sharks (1994)

Way before Kevin Spacey became a horrible boss, he was another real horrible ar..hole boss, where this movie really lets you ponder how far you can let someone push you. Hollywood producer exec, Buddy Ackerman (Spacey) who just revels in the role with flawless brilliance, lets out a string of verbal and physical assaults on a new fish employee, who Buddy has basically kissing his arse. Of course a lot of employees in the real world, who have been bullied, where the boss has made them their ashtray, will identify with this all too well, or painfully so, or to smaller degrees, than Spacey's handling of his employee, Guy, Pulp Fiction's Frank Whaley, suited up, and suited perfectly in this role, worlds away from that psychopathic nutter, in the first Vacancy film. The movie switches back and forth in slick fashion, which doesn't make it lose it intensity at all. Whaley has turned the tables on Spacey, making him his b.tch, holding him hostage in his own palisade house. What sparked this was Guy's new love involvement (Michelle Forbes) who Spacey refers loosely and dismissively to as "a little f..k towel". We continue to cut back and forth to Buddy's mistreatment of Guy, chronologically, until that final straw, and oh, how does he make Whaley suffer. In the end, unfortunately the victim is either of these two, and in that kind of hazy finale, we're left to figure out how it really went down, providing a slick thriller element, you wrack your brain for hours with, and this make does make pensive. I really enjoyed this movie, like I hadn't another one this much, for a while, which Adelaide Cinema's weren't granted a season run. But I recommend this to anyone, as it's another one that's slipped through the cracks, and that goes double if you're a Spacey fan, for you are to witness one of the most dramatically intense, searing, and powerhouse performances from a boss whose methods of intimidation are frightening. A master actor at work, where his two supporting co stars deliver solid. One engrossing film, from start to finish.

Billed as a comedy, "Swimming With Sharks" rarely came close to that description. It's really a biting satire on corporate greed and climbing the industry ladder literally on the backs (and bodies) of others. I never had a boss from hell of Buddy Ackerman's dimensions, but probably came pretty close. I recall a closed door argument between a company vice-president and one of his subordinate directors, and the underling was no guy/Guy like Frank Whaley's character. You could hear the two yelling at each other across the office before the thing settled down. Fortunately it was so early in the morning most of the staff wasn't in to work yet, but it was quite the show for anyone there.Kevin Spacey excels in an early starring role as the sadistic Buddy Ackerman. The thing is however, he exhibits a disconcerting aura of warmth and humanity at times that runs counter to his normal behavior. His is not the role model they talk about in business school, in fact it was almost refreshing to hear his diatribe about having to work one's way up instead of expecting to start at the top with an expectation of entitlement.You know, for some odd reason I had the impression that Guy was going to shoot Dawn (Michelle Forbes) instead of Buddy, seeing as how he had already endured a year of Buddy's vengeful and abusive behavior. It comes as a shock to most viewers, but if you're going to take a film like this to it's limits, it only makes sense that Guy was going to ensure his career path by going the extra mile. It's called having a job to kill for.

This is one of those movies where a great actor turns a run of the mill film into a good one. Kevin Spacey is just the sort of actor that always seems to do that."Swimming with Sharks," is the story of a young man, Guy ( Frank Whaley), who is determined to make his mark in the Movie industry. He lands a job as the assistant to big time Hollywood executive, Buddy Ackerman (Kevin Spacey), and thinks he has the start to launch him into the big time. It turns out that Buddy is not only a bigshot executive but also makes ridiculous demands, and is a downright cruel demanding boss, that seems to have no regard for his assistant or anyone for that matter. How far can Buddy push Guy until he snaps?This is not a new story line, it has been done time after time, but it is a horrible boss story, so everyone can relate to it. I am not a fan of Frank Whaley and actually can't stand him, but he does a decent job in this one. As I said this movie wasn't very original and I probably wouldn't have liked this movie at all if it wasn't for Kevin Spacey.Kevin Spacey did a great job portraying the evil, demanding boss.In my mind, he was what made this movie. Everything in this movie says boring and done before, but Kevin Spacey's performance turns it into a good movie. It's rare that one actor could do that by himself but in this case it is true.Not to reveal anything, but the end takes a twist that is actually a pretty good one. So overall, it was a good movie, not a great one. Spacey turns out to be the only one driving it, but somehow it was enough to make it watchable and at times enjoyable.Like my reviews, hate em? Any questions or comments, or if you want a DVD reviewed just shoot me an e-mail at: [email protected]

If it turned out that Kevin Spacey paid the Producers to play this role I wouldn't be surprised given that it is an actor's dream role and one that makes Kirk Douglas's Jonathan Shields in The Bad And The Beautiful seem like a wimp. Douglas himself, who revelled in playing characters like this would have probably gone to the mat with Robert Ryan to play Buddy Ackerman had this film been written when Douglas and Ryan were in their heyday. As it is Spacey hits one out of the park without even trying and the best thing is that there is fine support from the other two leads. Cyanide-laced screenplays about Hollywood are not exactly thin on the ground - we can cite, in chronological order, Sunset Boulevard, The Bad And The Beautiful and Cliff Odets' The Big Knife off the top of our heads and they all appeared within six years of each other in the fifties. Swimming With Sharks may lack the skillful screenplays all three boasted but it is still well worth a look.