The Deal

Slater stars in and co-executive produces this film, which means they got to use both his likeness and his money to try to help this film succeed, and it still flops. The movie is second-rate (or worse) in virtually every respect. With the exceptions of some of the names in the credits, this movie has almost no redeeming qualities, and of course the credits occur right at the beginning of the movie, so it's all down hill from there.

Loggia's a solid character actor, and Slater's decent playing the same character he always plays. Even though he's 36 now, he looks like he should be drinking a Shirley Temple during the bar scenes. Blair is a stone, and an anorexic-looking, awkward stone at that. She has no talent that I can detect, with a delivery that has all the depth and warmth of a petri dish. Think Keanu Reeves, only less attractive and with boobs. Very small boobs. She's also 32, not young enough to play the recent Harvard grad she's supposed to be. Angie Harmon is gorgeous, but unimpressive as an actor, and no one else in the movie gives any sort of memorable performance.

Blair's character's romance with Slater's is completely unbelievable, as there's no chemistry between them, so the audience is left thinking "What did I miss?" when the two of them suddenly start kissing for no apparent reason. Evidently the romantic music playing on the soundtrack while they sat in meetings with clients was supposed to demonstrate the build-up of their amorous feelings. It didn't.

The plot is the one thing this movie should have going for it, given the current state of gas prices and the war in Iraq, but it's such an obvious parallel and so close to home that it's too easy to dismiss, thereby undermining the entire premise of the film. Not that the poor writing, poor direction and poor acting do much to revive it, but this Deal should have died on the table.

THE DEAL was made when the idea of paying $6 per gallon of gas would spark international intrigue: now that we're well over $3.35 per gallon that price seems less than shocking! The concept of showing how big business and the government cover up the absurd under the table Deals such as the one that is the focus of this meager script is now so de rigueur that there is no melodrama or intrigue to this story. One must credit writer Ruth Epstein, director Harvey Kahn, and executive producer/star Christian Slater for caring enough about the chaos oil supplies and their impact on the world at large are causing, but the sad truth is that this tale is so ho-hum in that we all read this very story in the newspaper everyday that it hardly seems to merit a movie.

The cast is sterling - Christian Slater as a Wall Street type, Robert Loggia as the dirty hands dealer type, Selma Blair as the idealist, and Colm Feore, John Heard, Kevin Tighe, etc all try their best to make this flabby script meaningful. The star of the movie is the musical scoring by Christopher Lennertz...and that says a lot. Without an arc of plot line and without a bit of new information about the corruption at the highest levels of this country, this film just doesn't get off the ground. Grady Harp

Director Harvey Kahn was completely deprived of any inspiration in bringing to screen this political thriller story, happening in the corridors of the big corporate companies dealing with dirty oil deals, in a close but probable future where the western world is immersed in a war with the Arab oil-rich countries.

Nothing can really save this production. The screenplay is routine and full of stereotypes, not batter in complexity than a mid-level TV movie. Acting of Christian Slater is fair, and Selma Blair getting full time screen is quite promising as an actress, but not enough to carry the film higher. Directing is mediocre, it keeps the conflict being obscure and confusing at the start, does not make anything happening on the screen more clear or more interesting later, and moves the camera in a neutral and dry manner.

Routine stuff, nobody would have been sorry if this film was not made.

The United States is in an oil crunch. So, when the banking firm that "Tom Hanson" (Christian Slater) works for gets an opportunity to make a deal with an oil firm that might have the inside track on some foreign oil, the firm is only too happy to jump at the chance. But there are risks involved, and Tom doesn't know the oil business that well. Add insider politics, the Russian mafia, along with corporate greed, and you have the basics of this movie. As usual, Christian Slater performs quite well. So too, does Selma Blair as his environmentalist girlfriend, "Abbey Gallagher". Unfortunately, I didn't care too much for the performance of Angie Harmon as the mysterious "Anna" mostly because her Russian accent seemed too artificial. One minute she's speaking in perfect English, and the next her accent is off the charts. Likewise, I thought the ending was too quick and convenient. But in any case, I still enjoyed the movie, and believe it's worth a look for those who like films of this nature.

It's rough to call something people worked on so hard for 'uneven' but there it is. The Deal is, simply put, about a 'deal'. It's a Wall Street thriller. And at the other end of the deal is oil. A planet in trouble where the carbon monoxide level is the highest it's been in three quarters of a million years, where 50,000,000 people are estimated to be on the run from climate catastrophes within four years, where the top twenty two median temperatures have been recorded in the past twenty six years, and so forth.

It's been done before and it will be done again until the dependence on fossil fuels is ended, until the electric car is allowed to proliferate, until the oil barons get their hands off the automobile industry, until things settle down in the middle east, and so forth.

Everyone does a fair job in this one except Angie. Sorry Angie, but for reasons that can't be exposed here but that will become apparent to viewers you just don't cut it.

The movie's uneven because its thrill factor is propelled through at least half way by withholding important facts about the plot. And at that point you just have to see everything turns out all right with the usual modicum of plot devices tossed in.