Diamond Men (2000)

Can't emphasize enough: Don't read this if you haven't seen the movie yet.I've taken to putting movies in which the protagonists steal on a scale.At the low end, you have a movie like "The Score". It was a weak movie in many ways, and one of its notable failures was that it failed to redeem the criminal protagonists from the reality that they, after all, were taking something that didn't belong to them.At the high end (and also with Robert Forester) you have "Jackie Brown". It was a strong movie, and it earnestly and convincingly invites you to put Jackie's scheme (again, to take what ain't hers) within a complex moral/logistical web that at least demands that we think of the implications. You may not agree, but at least you aren't insulted.The ending of "Diamond Men", for me, was somewhere between these two points.Is the ruse Robert Forester's character pulls off at movie's end morally acceptable? It certainly is an undeniable case of comeuppance. His company is the process of demonstrating the kind of selective "institutional memory" that many boomers are experiencing first hand these days as companies are saying, "Pension? What pension?" Was his situation carefully engineered to touch base among the boomers? Even so, as carefully calibrated as the story is to deliver comeuppance to corporatist creeps, the feeling at the end is a sort of middle point.As good as the movie is in microcosm (acting, most (not all) of the editing, well-intentioned direction), the best intentions fail to completely overcome the prime necessity of such a story; make me feel fully satisfied with Eddie's (Forester) decision to ream the suits: Keep me from leaving the theater feeling dirty.Fact is, I was only half satisfied on this count.This is a great movie to see for the acting; highly recommended if you're an acting student. I was totally wowed by Wahlberg. A strange little man in my head was telling me that I shouldn't like his work; that I'd be sure to find something to complain about if I watched him intently enough: And the more closely I watched him, the more I respected him. I don't know how flexible he is, but he certainly shone in this role. I get the sense that he takes direction stunningly well, and I hope to see more of him in the future.

Great film about Eddie (a superb Robert Forster) having to train young upstart, Eddie (Donnie Wahlberg) in the diamond selling biz. Their chemistry is superb. The dialog just crackles & it pulls you right into this film. Of course one knows where the film's headed way in advance, but that doesn't distract from the brilliant acting in this character study. I highly recommend it & i rarely hand out suck accolades easily.Where I saw It: ShowtimeMy Grade: AEye Candy: Both Kristen Minter as Cherry and Sannah Laumeister as Amber drop their tops (and at what may be a first Nikki Fritz as Fran leaves hers covered, heh go figure)

This film takes us into the world of diamond selling, with brilliant (like the diamonds being sold) cast, director and script. Slowly, we come to know these people, seeing their flaws and then learning to love almost all of them. This film should have had wider release when it was first introduced in theaters...and should be used as a lesson to film makers in schools across the country.

I loved this movie! There are moments of absolute laugh out loud humor, and serious drama to tell the story of an average man who is pushed out of his career by uncontrollable circumstances. Donnie Wahlberg and Robert Forrester are a wonderful, unexpected combination. Go see this movie! You will NOT regret it!