"The Last Shot"
Steven Schats (Matthew Broderick) is a wannabe
filmmaker who has yet to make a movie. He has been
bicycling his screenplay (written with his brother
Martin Paris (Tim Blake Nelson)) around town for years
to anyone showing even a modicum of interest and jumps
at the offer by producer Joe Devine (Alec Baldwin) to,
finally, make his flick. What Steve doesn't know is
that Joe is an undercover FBI agent running a mob
sting to trap the infamous John Gotti in "The Last
Shot."
"The Last Shot" is based on the 1992 true-life article
by Steve Fishman about two ambitious filmmakers, Gary
Levy and Dan Lewk, and their unwitting part in an FBI
undercover operation to break the Mob hold on the
Teamsters union. Writer and first time director Jeff
Nathanson took this unbelievable story of ambition,
naivety and deception and brings it to the screen with
an amazing collection of talented actors. Besides
first among equals Broderick and Baldwin, Toni
Collette vamps her way through as a former star, Emily
French, trying to make a comeback; Tony Shalhoub plays
Tommy "The Black" Sanz, a mobster running a bribery
scam with the Teamsters who has ambitions to rise up
in the Mafia ranks; Calista Flockhart is Steven's
actress/girlfriend Valerie who expects to be the star
of the film; Tim Blake Nelson is Schats brother,
Marshal Paris (his pen name). Buck Henry, as the
budding filmmaker's agent, Lonnie Bosco, and Ray
Liotta as FBI chief and Joe's much more successful
brother, Jack Devine, round out the ensemble.
Steve is self-possessed and desperate enough to
overlook the fact that his new producer doesn't seem
to know a thing about making movies but balks when Joe
tries to change everything he has dreamed of doing.
First, Joe insists that the movie, set in the wilds of
Arizona and the Colorado River, be shot in Providence,
Rhode Island (a hotbed of mob activity). Other
restrictions on Steve's auteur spirit start to intrude
as Joe demands that Steven use a storage locker for an
Indian shaman ritual and have a garbage dump stand in
for a southwest US village.
Things perk up when Joe starts to actually believe
that they can, indeed, make a movie that will trap
Tommy Sanz. Devine envisions an FBI production company
making movies around the country, wherever mobsters
hang their hats, busting them and getting good box
office, too.
The cast is an embarrassment of acting riches that,
despite the novice helmer, give at least some
dimension to their characters. Alec Baldwin fares best
as ambitious, but not overly bright, Joe Devine.
Broderick is serviceable as the naïve filmmaker whose
biggest thrill is picking out the bullhorn he will use
to say, "Action!" and "That's a wrap!" Toni Collette,
one heck of an actress, vamps it up as movie star,
Emily. Calista Flockart gets good mileage out of her
Valerie, an on-the-verge-of–a-nervous-breakdown
actress with a penchant for high drama. Tony Shalhoub
gives a menacing/amusing perf as mobster Sanz. The
rest of the cast make their own small mark,
particularly Joan Cusack as a Hollywood producer and
FBI-adviser. Supporting cast is richly populated, if
under utilized.
"The Last Shot" takes the premise of the true-life
story, keeps that part pretty much intact, and
extrapolates it into fully developed characters and
layers a dose of comedy on top. There are no real
surprises to the film and I think a more deft hand at
the helm would have helped things appreciably. But,
Nathanson and company do a solid job, thanks to the
large and talented cast, to bring things to an amusing
and upbeat ending. I give it a B-.
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