El gran engaño

Michael Caleo's background in writing for television shows in this flimsy little flick that despite a solid cast comes across as tired retelling of the bad guy to good guy to bad guy sequences. There are some good one-liners in the film, with a script that is so peppered with the 'f' word that it is crippled by it, but the story has been done before and much better and this time around the 'twist' is obvious from the film's opening lines.

Goofus-doofus Midwesterner Jaime (Brendan Fraser) has moved form Ohio to New York with his gorgeous girlfriend Belisa (Amber Valletta) to join a sales company whose chief salesman is foul mouthed, ill tempered Ted (Michael Keaton) who appears to loathe everyone and the world. Jaime is assigned to Ted, but Jaime's level of intelligence borders on idiocy and his fate with the company seems doomed...until Jaime introduces Belisa to Ted...and the romantic fireworks start. Ted falls for Belisa and begins to change his outlook, confiding his inner spirit as a professor of English literature to Belisa. A transformation takes place and as Jaime spirals downward while Ted and Belisa's affair ignites, role reversal happens as a not at all surprising plot unfolds.

Michael Keaton is a fine actor and makes the best of this mouthy role, but Brendan Fraser's talents are completely wasted - a hint from the start that all is not as it appears... It is a mediocre movie and even if the audience doesn't turn off the soundtrack to rid the script of the trashy language, it can become insulting to the intellect. But again, Keaton helps it float. Grady Harp

In my opinion. This is a very entertaining, not great, movie which I thoroughly enjoyed.

...before this film hit the production level.

I SUSPECT that this script was well-done. (though I couldn't find a copy of it anywhere.) The acting is what we would expect from top-tier actors. The directing seems excellent. But I suspect that somewhere between the film getting in the can and getting out the doorway...

...someone went at it with scissors. Or a blow torch. Either way, the race to the ending seems rushed and convoluted. Parts seem to be missing. Other parts don't seem to follow in order. Some parts are just plain missing.

Gotta hate those movies that end with you shaking your head and telling yourself "What the *@$ was that?" I felt sorry for those people that worked on the movie.

Now, this is a movie with a ton of flaws, I won't deny that but I'm not going to as nit-picky as some of the users here. Some people seem to enjoy movies but then later find flaws or plot holes or question some of the believability of scenes, then later decide they didn't like it even though they enjoyed the movie when they saw it, and throughout the course of 100 minutes, they were thoroughly entertained. Michael Keaton in this movie is such an unpredictable fascinating character that nobody can say they were bored. They may not think the performance is believable as a real person, but it wasn't boring.

I'm recommending this movie because I was entertained, simple as that. There was many problems I had throughout the film that were all solved by the end, but the ending created more problems if I took the time to think about it. But taking the time to think about it after the fact shouldn't affect my emotional response I had when the credits were rolling.

People blast movies like Sixth Sense for the same reason. By the twist ending, everybody in the audience were shocked. Their minds were reeling. They were entertained. Then, driving home, they rethink the movie with knowledge of the twist, and find all sorts of plot holes. Then they decide they hate the movie.

If you are entertained during the course of the movie, that's all that matters. Don't analyze everything and try to find problems.

After browsing through some titles online on Netflix, I watched The Last Time on a whim. Lately I've been enjoying romances and I also work in sales, so I thought this might be an interesting film for me personally. I wasn't expecting too much since the ratings are rather mediocre and I had never heard of this movie, but I am glad I gave it a look.

Michael Keaton is absolutely brilliant in this movie. He is the top salesman for a company and is driven by an inner rage that makes him successful. He is forced to take the bumbling Brendan Fraser under his wing and the fun begins. Keaton is great fun as this confident jerk who tells it like it is. His relationship with Fraser and Fraser's fiancé, however, pulls on Keaton's inner demons and he begins to change. I think the description of this film is best left at that.

The Last Time is a nice little psychological thriller with a touch of romance added to the equation. It is definitely worth a look. Rating 8 of 10 stars.