It’s time to look at another film about a celebrity ruining his career and then seeing if he can make a comeback. It seems to be a bit of a classic plotline over the years. Unfortunately this one isn’t quite able to handle it. The film’s reasonably entertaining the whole time, but the ending is pretty sketchy and the romance plot here is also not one of the better ones. Jack definitely makes the most of his two weeks though and after lighting up the towns he should be tired enough to stay ready this time.
The movie opens up with Jack finally finished with his restoration after being a drunk for a while. His old pal Kruger the director has mailed him asking if Jack would like a big part in his new movie. When Jack gets there Kruger admits that it was all a scam and the psychiatrist asked him to write, but he’ll at least let Jack do the dubbing. Jack never lets an opportunity to make a quick buck slip away so he demands a raise and then takes the job. The tough part is he has to deal with the main actor Davie who really doesn’t care about the project at all. The guy is just here for the check and spends his days as drunk as can be. Jack doesn’t like this but there’s not much he can do about it either. At least there’s the heroine Veronica here. She’s currently in an abusive relationship with Davie so Jack decides to be her rebound guy. Can this possibly end well?
The film sets Davie up to be so antagonistic that there’s no way for you to buy into his redemption arc by the end. Veronica even gets a black eye at one point which shows just how bad Davie was. The film doesn’t get into it much deeper than that but tells you all you need to know about the guy. Davie also waves a knife around at Jack before getting subdued. Jack’s way too lenient at the guy and the way the romance plot ends is also not very satisfying. Davie’s just a pretty terrible character.
Unfortunately I can’t say that I liked Jack and Veronica very much either. Veronica seemed to rebound way too quickly. She got together with Jack with no real effort but ultimately went back to Davie very quickly. She seemed to be someone who was always trying to get some action so I don’t see their relationship being great long term. Jack’s no better though as he goes from Veronica to Carlotta with ease. Considering how tough he talked about not falling for Carlotta again he sure fell pretty easily. This is where the closing act just didn’t work for me. After he is betrayed, Jack takes it very hard and falls back into literally every single one of his old vices. He gets super drunk, he has an affair with Carlotta, and then he loses his mind and starts driving like a maniac. That scene’s definitely pretty terrible as the guy undoes all of his progress from the last few months.
The film quickly spins this into a happy ending after that somehow. With all the fights and property damage he caused the guy will probably get arrested the next week though. The only character here who seemed reasonable at first was Kruger. Then slowly but surely the film begins to break him down piece by piece until he’s just as bad as the others. First off, he cheats on his wife consistently. The film plays this off as a comedic subplot but it’s all pretty tragic. He also does this very openly so everyone in Hollywood knows about this which is even more humiliating to her. Kruger is only interested in making films and getting famous and it shows at the end when he decides to back stab Jack. I think Jack should have suspected as much since he seemed pretty cynical about showbiz at the start. I think he just allowed himself to get a little too hopeful and it’s a shame that doing so would get him in trouble.
So there are quite a few negatives I’ve got in the bag here like characters and romance, but one positive the film does have is the writing. I always enjoy the scripts from this era. Everyone just sounds very regal and the dialogue allows for good back and forth discussions with the characters. They’re all professional and make reasonable sounding arguments even if they’re actually crazy when you think about it. There’s always a lot of passive aggressive comments here as people rarely say what they actually mean. It’s really something to think about how people would actually speak like that back in the day because it’s certainly nothing like that in the modern day.
I’d also say that the pacing is good. The film will hold your interest as it’s going on and it never drags on. Each scene serves some kind of purpose so I wouldn’t say that there was any real filler here. Even if you don’t like the characters they still manage to be compelling which is important. It was nice to see Jack work as a director for a bit even if it didn’t ultimately work out. One character I did like was Kruger’s boss. That guy seemed very practical. He may not have said the things Kruger was hoping to hear but the guy clearly runs a tight ship and that’s important for a director.
Overall, Two Weeks in Another Town is a film with an idea that’s been tried in the past and it has been done more successfully. The problem here is that while the film does succeed in showing a cynical Hollywood where everyone is out to get you, it’s done without likable characters. All of the characters lose their morals when they need too. The film can be quite mean spirited. Basically this amounts to Jack going to another town and for two weeks making as much of a mess as he wants and then getting out quickly. While the ending suddenly tries to be a happy one it’s almost more of a grim ending since Jack ended up cracking once again. I’d say to skip it this time and you could watch almost any of Kirk Douglas’ other films and you’ll have a better time.
Overall 4/10
This review is of the edited TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative.
It’s time to look as a retro Tom Cruise thriller. It’s always fun watching a film with him as the lead because you expect some craziness will ensue. This one was before he became more of an action star so he isn’t actually doing a lot of fighting here. Still, this film does have its share of action and intrigue as dealing with big business can be difficult. It’s an entertaining film that does have its share of issues, but still ends up being worth the watch.
The movie starts with Mitch graduating Law school and now everybody wants to hire him. He gets quite a lot of really great offers and ultimately decides to go with a small firm. The reason for this is they offer him a ton of money and there are a lot of nice perks to the job like a new car. It’s all pretty perfect so naturally the group turns out to be shady. Whenever someone tries to leave their firm they always have an “accident” which doesn’t end up well for them. Anyone who looks into the group is shot falls off of a boat. Either way the message here is that you are not getting out of The Firm alive. Will Mitch be the first to survive or will he fall as well?
The tricky part here is once you’re in then it’s hard to get out and Mitch went all in. He moved and has presumably started spending this money so there’s a lot on him at the moment. He then makes a huge mistake and has an affair even though he was just recently married to Abby. He was literally away from her for a single day and he couldn’t control himself? That was just pretty terrible and it made things awfully easy for the villains to blackmail him. It’s a lot harder to sympathize with Mitch after that because there was just no excuse for the cheating.
Mitch stumbled out of the gate so at least he was good at strategy. Near the end of the film he has to come up with a plan to fool both the FBI and the Firm and that’s no easy task. Fortunately he has the help of a lady named Tammy. After her friend was murdered by the Firm she’s decided to help take revenge on them. She is key to winning this battle as there’s no way Mitch could have done this on his own. She does a lot of the legwork and actual printing of the materials to get back at the villains. Abby also ends up helping although Mitch isn’t aware of this.
Unfortunately her part of the plot isn’t quite as good. Naturally the film decides to go with the trick of having her woo Avery to get into his apartment and steal the files. The whole thing’s pretty bad. In part it’s revenge on Mitch and in part just because she wants to do whatever she can to contribute. It’s still not the ideal plot though and I’d have preferred that she just brought a gun and kept Avery away with that. It would have been a good way to still get in the apartment and steal what was needed.
We also have a plot involving Mitch’s brother Ray. Ray is in jail for murdering someone. The film never goes into detail but Mitch mentions that it was a bar brawl that escalated so ideally let’s say that it was accidental. Mitch decides to bust Ray out of jail while he’s at it and comes up with an elaborate deal to do this. He certainly keeps the FBI busy throughout all of this. The Firm is definitely at its best when it’s juggling all of these plots. A lot is constantly happening during the film and all of the plots are connected which is definitely fun. The writing is pretty solid here and the film has good pacing. This is a thriller that will keep your attention from start to finish.
There are a lot of firm executives and they’re all pretty fun. Avery certainly gets the most screen time and he’s portrayed as a pretty nice guy but that’s really to hide how deep into the business he is. The guy’s just as complicit as everyone else even if he may not act the part. Standing by and doing nothing just makes you another villain. The film did well with the humor though. He has some nice scenes along with Mitch when convincing their first client. I also enjoyed the opening montage of Mitch getting offers from everyone. The first half of the film is pretty light with its tone and the film does a good job of balancing this. It never really gets too dark although there can be a lot of drama at different times.
This is one film that could have ended a lot sooner or gone over more smoothly if Mitch had just talked to Abby near the beginning though. Since they all might have been in danger then he should have let her know right away. By the time he went to a detective he already suspected something might have been up so he should have kept her in the loop. If anything by not telling her it made everything more suspicious like when she went to the office looking for him. He had no real reason to keep that a secret. As a main character Mitch really just wasn’t that good.
Overall, The Firm is a decent movie. It’s got enough holding it back where I wouldn’t be tempted to give it a re-watch at any point for quite a long time, but I still wouldn’t call it a bad film. It feels like there’s more they could have done with the concept though. If anything the first half feels like it could have gone on longer with Mitch not suspecting that anything was wrong with the organization before they started showing him stuff. If anything they make it a little too obvious that they’re crooked from the jump with constantly pressuring the characters into having kids, Abby can’t have a job, and the employees die right as Mitch gets there. It’s a bit convenient to get Mitch suspicious rather early. I’d also make Mitch a better character and switch Abby’s subplot. Those things would all help but if you do want a thriller film dealing with the Law then this is still a decent one to check out.
Overall 5/10
It’s time to look at an old film about a villain’s plans to overthrow the government. It’s always a pretty interesting plot and we’ve had some solid entries like White House Down over the years. Well, this one holds its own with those more action centered titles. There really aren’t any big fight scenes here so the film is relying on its strong story and script to win the day. This was a wise bet and the film ends up being very solid.
The movie starts with Jiggs working for his boss Scott as per usual. He shows his boss the military videos of the drills in case America went back into war and unfortunately all of the divisions look quite terrible. Scott laments that the government seems rather weak lately and heads off for another political rally. Everyone has been on edge lately because the U.S. has entered into a Nuclear weapons treaty with Russia. Both sides will disarm their nuclear weapons and will count on the other side to do the same. A great many people disagree with the policy including Jiggs and Scott. However, Jiggs believes that such thoughts should be kept quiet in their case since they are a part of the army. Jiggs is fairly high up in the government as he is able to personally meet with the President and even more so for Scott.
Scott doesn’t share this sentiment and doesn’t mind taking passive aggressive shots at President Lyman. Well, Jiggs can tolerate that, but then he notices an odd note in the war room. Coupled with other suspicious bits of information he informs Lyman that Scott may be planning a coup in 7 days. Lyman’s advisors all disregard this but the President believes it’s worth looking into. He sends all of his advisors to different spots to verify the information and now has to decide what to do if a coup is in the works. Handling this will be quite dangerous and must be done carefully or the country’s divided status will be exposed to foreign powers.
From the start this movies adds a good amount of tension and nuance. It’s not like these are random murderers trying to cause anarchy. Scott is simply a guy on the other side who became more and more extreme as time went on. With all the support he would receive at the rallies, this only helped to further push Scott to the edge until finally he went down this dark path. Most of the people we see seem to agree with Scott but as the President points out, when you put yourself in a small circle you tend to only hear those who agree with you. It’s why the term “Silent Majority” was created because a lot of times the opinions you hear the most may not be agreed with as much as it would seem.
I’ll give Lyman a lot of credit here for actually listening to Jiggs. In a lot of these films everyone discounts Jiggs immediately and it leads to trouble. The only reason the heroes are able to stay in this fight is because they acted right away. Lyman ultimately made the right move here and he’s a lot of fun as the President. He handles all of the situations very well and is portrayed as a wise man. It’s easy to see how he got elected as President.
My favorite character though as Lyman’s second in command, Paul. Paul initially doesn’t believe Jiggs at all, but when Lyman gives him the orders, Paul follows them to the letter. He performs his duty well and I liked the scene with the Navy Admiral. Paul played it all very well and he even suspected that he may not survive the tale so he created a backup plan. Part of why I enjoyed his character was because he quickly swallowed his pride at being wrong and saw the bigger picture. I was actually expecting him to be a traitor for a while there so I was pleasantly surprised that this didn’t happen.
I’d say the only plot that felt really unnecessary here was the one with Eleanor. In order to get some leverage on Scott they send Jiggs to one of his old flames to find some information out. Unfortunately this leads to burning some bridges here as they liked each other until she finds out that he was just using her for the letters. While Jiggs didn’t intend for that to happen, he did ultimately do just that and it was a pretty sad state of affairs. He should have just come clean with her from the start or declined the mission but the way he handled the whole thing was pretty underhanded.
Jiggs was a solid main character otherwise though. He carefully planned out his moves and did everything he could to uphold the constitution. He never backed down from his confrontations with Scott and his boldness is ultimately what got him to the right place at the right time. I also liked Lyman’s other advisor Raymond. That guy had a pretty dangerous job of heading to where they suspected the villain base was all on his own. Things definitely could have gotten very dicey for him there.
Finally we have Scott who made for a very solid main villain. His confrontation with Lyman is definitely one of the better scenes here. There’s a lot of good back and forth between them as they trade threats. Scott tries playing dumb for quite a while even when Lyman basically tells him that the jig’s up. Scott tries to stay tough til the end but once the heroes get the smoking gun it’s all over. He’ll have to try and win legally now and while he was confident in his chances at the start, he didn’t seem so by the end. Particularly by resigning he may not even be eligible in 4 years although I’m not sure exactly how that would work out. It’s possible he could still try but he would likely have far less supporters now.
Overall, Seven Days in May is definitely a very solid political thriller. The writing is excellent and the same is true of the pacing. This is a movie that really had no weaknesses and all of the characters are written realistically to make for better interactions. As mentioned, I think we could have done without the romance plot though. It didn’t really add to anything but it’s not enough to hurt the score either. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to watch a film with a pretty engaging plot.
Overall 7/10
