Swimming with Sharks (1994)

Director: George Huang

Writer: George Huang

Composer: Tom Hiel

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Frank Whaley, Michelle Forbes, Benicio Del Toro, T.E. Russell, Roy Dotrice, Matthew Flint, Patrick Fischler, Jerry Levine, Sabryn Genet, Kyle Reed

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Back Stabbing - Two Faced - Revenge

Plot: A young, naive Hollywood studio assistant finally turns the tables on his incredibly abusive producer boss.

My rating:  8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

This is not a comedy despite what the poster and trailer try to convince you.  It's a revenge drama.  It can be darkly humorous to see Guy (Whaley) being bullied by Buddy (Spacey) but it's mostly painful.  Really painful.  Spacey's performance alone makes this a must-see.  The Whaley and Forbes are excellent as well.  Del Toro is only in it for maybe five minutes in one scene.  This picture doesn't play out like you think except that it's easy to see Guy losing it and going to the extreme of attacking his boss.  I'm sure most of us have fantasized that shit a few times.  Even after having seen this twenty years ago, I couldn't remember how it ended (but I kept a fondness for the picture thinking it was funny) and I'm glad as I had no idea how this played out.  It's a cynical film and it's a good one with a great cast and a stupendously good performance from Spacey.  He's amazing in this.  The Trimark DVD I soon-to-be-had presents the film in non-anamorphic widescreen and the only extras are four trailers (including one for this film) in fullscreen.  I'm hoping the special edition has a print that's anamorphic.  It does have a lot of extras and I'm keen to hear some stories from Huang about his experiences that lead to making this picture.