Swimming with Sharks **** (1994, Kevin Spacey, Frank Whaley, Michelle Forbes, Benicio Del Toro, Jerry Levine, T E Russell, Roy Dotrice) – Classic Movie Review 1028

Writer-director George Huang’s dark 1994 black comedy crime psychological drama Swimming with Sharks finds Kevin Spacey playing one of the main sharks swimming in the Hollywood pool in this thrillingly-acted, involving and quite engrossingly written Tinseltown satire.

Spacey gives one of his most exciting performances, galvanising and elevating even such an intriguing film. Frank Whaley plays a young, naive Hollywood studio assistant called Guy, who finally turns the tables on his abusive big time movie producer boss, Buddy Ackerman (Spacey).

Things turn around when Guy kidnaps his boss and visits his cruelties back on him. Told in a series of flashbacks, the film is set in Buddy’s home, where Guy has taken him hostage, furious that Buddy has fired him.

The underrated Whaley does well, too, sparring excitingly even with such a firecracker, scene-stealer as Spacey, giving nearly as good as he gets. Michelle Forbes, Benicio Del Toro, Jerry Levine, Roy Dotrice, Matthew Flint, Patrick Fischler, and T E Russell also help to bolster up the acting power.

Christian Slater played the Spacey role in a version for the theatre on the London West End stage. The adaptation by Michael Lesslie had its world premiere at London’s Vaudeville Theatre in October 2007 and starred Christian Slater as Buddy, Matt Smith as Guy, Arthur Darvill as Rex and Helen Baxendale as Dawn.

Foster Kane (played by T E Russell), the director Buddy hires, is named after Orson Welles’s character in the 1941 film Citizen Kane.

George Huang decided to write the script after talking with Robert Rodriguez, who encouraged him to quit his job as an assistant at Sony Pictures and pursue writing full-time to produce a script to direct himself.

On a tiny budget of $700,000, it took an even tinier amount of money at the box office, $382,928.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1028 derekwinnert.com