Ted (Keaton), top salesman at the Bindview sales company, is forced to show new hire and midwest transplant, Jamie (Fraser), the ropes. Jamie?s enthusiasm isn?t squashed by Ted?s cynical and angry personality, but after he... more » fails to make sale after sale, Jamie quickly becomes disillusioned with the big city. When Jamie introduces Ted to his beautiful fiancé, Belisa (Valletta), the hard-bitten salesman falls hard, and when they begin an illicit affair, the real Ted emerges; losing the bitter edge that made him a great salesman. Jamie continues to fail at the sales game and Ted?s guilt over the affair prompts him to feed Jamie his own sales leads to try and keep him afloat. Even as Bindview begins to lose profitability, Ted becomes increasingly focused on Belisa and his sales start to suffer. It is only when the company falls victim to a hostile takeover, that the ingenious con is revealed.« less
Great actors Brendan Fraser and Michael Keaton were unable to save this disappointment.
Beatriz F. (nebula61) from MIAMI, FL Reviewed on 10/20/2013...
This movie had an unusual twist at the end and was an interesting character study. I ended up liking it more than I had expected at the beginning! Michael Keaton was great in this!
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Movie Reviews
Wow, what a flick!
Rosemary Thornton | Norfolk, VA | 07/11/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"So many of Hollywood's most popular movies have become so painfully formulaic that 15 minutes into the thing, you can figure out who wins the girl, who loses his life and who gets what he deserves. This movie starts out that way but the ending caught me by surprise. I first saw this movie one week ago and as the days have passed, I continue to think about the ending and the story line. It's *that* good a movie.
It's also a thinking person's movie. Nothing explodes and no one's head rolls down a staircase and there's no blood and gore, but my oh my, is it a compelling story.
There are a lot of messages you can take away from this movie but the one that rings most true to me is a quote I heard many years ago from William Barclay (Bible scholar). He said that evil seeks to breech our spiritual fortress in our weakest places and in our strongest places and that we should be vigilant to guard those two "low spots."
The other reason I loved this movie is it's about "every man" and each plot and sub-plot is very believable and has no discernible plot holes (as so many movies do). It's very well-written, well-acted and deliciously interesting. You may want to watch it twice, to make sure you miss nothing."
Very gd plot, gds story, havent seen too much of this
kan katherine | Hong Kong | 10/15/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"gd plot, kind of well written screenplay, could have been more interesting. shooting could have been much more interesting too. story tells how the business world would have gone all the ways to take their enemies down. even sending staffs over to the other company as someone else...very interesting indeed, just not shot 1 st class."
"The semiotic language underlined twice in two transcendental sequences. "Be a shark, not a bait."
This brilliant script deals with several facets of the human being in the city of the world : How to survive in the middle of the competitive contour? How do we face the success and bear our affective lacks behind the mask of the most terrible existential loneliness? Where is the turning point of every human being?
After the first quarter of the film my mind brought me back those horrid memories of the magnificent film "Midnight cowboy" . The tangent point resides precisely in the fact we have a winner salesman Jamie Bashant (Brendan Fraser) and his fiancée Belisa (Amber Valletta) from Ohio has been enticed and recruited to face the challenge in New York City in order to triumph into a well reputed enterprise related with the sell of first-order technological devices and how he has to deal with the wolf of the thousand won battles, Ted Rike (Michael Keaton who stole the show in this film) .
That's the initial premise. Our new promise begins his job with many failures and disappointments. And when his girlfriend and Ted begin a sudden and hot affair the tic tack of the clock will initiate its regressive count.
The gradual and irreversible crumbling of our hunter runs parallel with the decay of the firm he represents, because the was the superstar of this winner team. And we will witness the awful truth in the great and unexpected finale.
Undoubtedly, we are in front of the best films of this year. Astonishing performances and an engaging plot make of this movie a magnificent finding.
"
Death of Salesman 2
Lee Armstrong | Winterville, NC United States | 02/10/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
""The Last Time" kept my interest. The sales lingo and stiff competition formed a good foundation for the film where getting ahead vies with truthfulness. Michael Keaton who was in "First Daughter" and played Batman for Tim Burton years ago does a good job as the cutthroat Ted who does anything to make the sale. Keaton develops the character well as we eventually see his vulnerability. Brendan Fraser who was in The Air I Breathe which was not so great and the Oscar-winning Crash (Widescreen Edition) plays Jamie, a naive salesman from Ohio trying to adjust to New York. One of the deleted scenes showing Fraser in leather with a girl in the bathroom was thankfully not in the final cut. Fraser does a good job showing the downhill emotional trajectory of the character. Amber Valetta from Transporter 2 plays Jamie's girlfriend Belisa. The scene with her being unfaithful with Ted as Jamie lies unconscious next to them in the bed is jarring. Billy Slaughter turns in a nice cameo performance as the frisky intern who gets beat up in the parking lot. Neal McDonough turns his blue eyes loose as Hurly whose bravado exceeds his accomplishment. Michael Lerner was a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominee for "Barton Fink" in 1991. He turns in a nice cameo performance as the sales guru Leguzza who has a penchant for Korean boys. Michael Caleo who directed an episode of "The Sopranos" helms the project and keeps it unpredictable into the home stretch. Perhaps we might call this "Death of Salesman 2." Enjoy!"