Rick (2003)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Curtiss Clayton

Writer:

Daniel Handler (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Envy, lust, murder...business as usual.

Plot:

"Rigoletto" retold at Christmas time in Manhattan's corporate world. Rick, an executive at Image, is a jerk to a woman applying for a job...

Plot Keywords:

Character Name In Title

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Bill Pullman	...	Rick O'Lette
Aaron Stanford	...	Duke
Agnes Bruckner	...	Eve O'Lette
Sandra Oh	...	Michelle
Dylan Baker	...	Buck
Emmanuelle Chriqui	...	Duke's Long-Suffering Wife
Marianne Hagan	...	Laura
Jerome Preston Bates	...	Lobby Guard
Jamie Harris	...	Mick
Paz de la Huerta	...	Vicki
Marin Rathje	...	Mrs. O'Lette in Picture
William Ryall	...	Rick's Doorman
Daniel Handler	...	Perky Waiter
Dennis Parlato	...	BusinessTalk Anchor
P.J. Brown	...	Jack Lantern

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content and language.

Runtime:

Canada:100 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA | USA:R

Company:

Big Boss LLC

Trivia:

Rick takes his daughter to dinner at Verdi's, a restaurant named after the composer of 'Rigoletto', the opera from which the movie is drawn. While they dine, the music playing in the background is "La donna è mobile", the Duke's aria from the last act of the opera.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Buck gives his business card to Rick, it has a '666' phone number, but when Rick uses the business card in Eve's bedroom to set up the hit, the phone number starts with '555'.

Quotes:

Michelle: Okay, you can do this Rick. You can humiliate me, and mock me, and insult me and get me fired.
Rick O'Lette: Look I didn't know...
Michelle: But you know what? You're still an evil person, Rick. You hurt an innocent person and you will pay for it. I curse you Rick. You're an evil person with an evil soul, and it'll come back to you, it will come right back at you. I curse you, Rick O'Lette. It will come right back at you.

Movie Connections:

Features American Psycho (2000)

Soundtrack:

Great Wooden Bridge

Modern Spin on Tragedy

I saw "Rick" yesterday at Anthology, and it keeps playing in my head. Based on Verdi's "Rigoletto, the film is not afraid to mix both dark humor and tragedy. "Rick" manages to satire the corporate world and its self-centered "Masters of the Universe" types, while still keeping true to the gut level truth of tragedy's inevitable demand for its "pound of flesh."

'Rick' takes us inside a rather claustrophobic world of boardrooms and offices, where sex is played over computer chat rooms or under mahogany desks. It's Christmas time, but the emphasis here is on 'taking' all that you can get.

Pullman and Stanford are loathsome yet vulnerable pawns in this game of fate. They get what they deserve. Standouts are young Agnes Bruckner as Eve and especially effective is Sandra Oh's terrific bar scene. Definitely worth seeing. I may never look at my Dylan albums the same.