The Man (2005)

Director:

Les Mayfield

Writers (WGA):

Jim Piddock (screenplay) &
Margaret Oberman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

9 September 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

One guy walks the walk. The other talks and talks.

Plot:

Special Agent Derrick Vann is a man out to get the man who killed his partner but a case of mistaken identity leads him to Andy Fidler, a salesman with too many questions and a knack of getting in Vanns way.

Plot Keywords:

Mistaken Identity | ATF Agent | Box Office Flop | Farting Scene | Title Spoken By Character

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Samuel L. Jackson	...	Derrick Vann
Eugene Levy	...	Andy Fiddler
Luke Goss	...	Joey / Kane
Miguel Ferrer	...	Agent Peters
Susie Essman	...	Lt. Rita Carbone
Anthony Mackie	...	Booty
Gigi Rice	...	Susan
Rachael Crawford	...	Dara Vann
Philip Akin	...	Second I.A. Agent
Christopher Murray	...	Homeless Man
Joel S. Keller	...	Laptop Guy (as Joel Keller)
John Hemphill	...	Ted
Kathryn Greenwood	...	Flight Attendant
Carrie Cain-Sparks	...	Big Kim (as Carrie Cain Sparks)
George Ghali	...	Cab Driver

Also Known As:

Cool & Fool - Mein Partner mit der großen Schnauze (Germany) (DVD title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language, rude dialogue and some violence.

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

Germany | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

UK:12A | Canada:14A (Ontario/British Columbia/Alberta) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Ireland:12A | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Mexico:B | Singapore:NC-16 | Argentina:Atp | Finland:K-11 | Netherlands:MG6 | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:14 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

Luke Goss wears a Freemason's ring in the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Vann is driving with Andy in the car after arresting him you will notice his left eye is bloodshot then clear then bloodshot again as they cut between shots in the scene.

Quotes:

Special Agent Derrick Vann: If you try to run this time, I'll put a bullet in a part of your ass where you're gonna need it.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Pulp Fiction (1994)

Soundtrack:

It's a New Thing (It's Your Thing)

All the production values of a Saturday afternoon action serial.

I can't say the movie was a disappointment because I got what I expected from the trailer. I hoped for Jackson to reprise the Jules character from Pulp Fiction but I knew I wouldn't get him. Instead we get someone almost as angry and a whole lot more impotent: he threw tantrums when it's obvious that his bad-ass character would beat Levy. The chemistry between Jackson and Levy never develops, it's a tired combination of the oblivious and irritating (Levy) teamed up with the dead-serious bad-ass (Jackson). The director doesn't know how to take advantage of the two as his gags are poorly set-up. There's an awful lot of lowest-common-denominator stuff in this movie. Once the movie starts to drone on, out comes the fart jokes. In the end, I amused myself by substituting my own dialogue throughout the movie and looking for references to Toronto. That's another disappointment: the movie is set in Detroit and filmed in Toronto but there was minimal effort to actually make the city FEEL like Detroit. Sure, they digitally removed the CN Tower from the city skyline but the unique Toronto streetcars and streetcar tracks, Petro-Canada gas-stations, Royal York Hotel, bilingual signposts, people walking about and NO garbage or graffiti anywhere prove that it is NOT Detroit. They should have at least avoided the skyline completely since it doesn't match Detroit at all, even with the Skydome and CN Tower removed. There you go: a poor to mediocre effort on all levels.