Tricked

Exploring Paul Verhoeven's filmography means eventually stumbling upon Tricked, which runs for just under an hour, but doesn't seem to be a TV movie or part of a series. It was created from some kind of program/competition called Entertainment Experience, and I've been reading about it to try and understand it, but I don't. I don't even know whether calling it a competition is useful or accurate. It was some strange Dutch thing that my brain cannot comprehend or make sense of.

But the resulting film is pretty straightforward. It's short, to the point, and not nearly as crazy as most Verhoeven projects, but it works pretty well as a dark comedy. There's basically a terrible husband, and he's celebrating his 50th birthday, and he has various affairs that collide and mess up aspects of his family and professional life.

From what I can gather about the production, different people initially scripted different parts of what was filmed... but Verhoeven ended up sort of doing his own thing in the end? I don't know. This is confusing. I can usually read about unusual projects and more or less understand and summarize them, but this thing - this Tricked - has kind of tricked me. Words fail me, and I just don't know.

As a movie, it's fine for what it is. It doesn't waste time and it's kind of amusing/entertaining, if a little slight, in the end. It's interesting to see some of these lesser-known Verhoeven films, though, and I'm starting to realize that even if the director's had a couple of misses in his time, he's never seemed to miss twice in a row. The guy's made almost 20 movies, and most are at least pretty good. Even the ones that aren't good are still interesting; the kinds of somewhat bad movies that aren't necessarily bad times to watch.

I've seen movies that were pointedly biting and acrid in their comedy or drama, but still I felt unprepared for the beginning of 'Tricked' - this is a treat that sprouts porcupine spines as it goes down. The sordid secrets, searing spite, and complications these characters have between one another are all but bewildering, and the blend of it all is consistently spicy from the very start. That the tone isn't carried through the entire way is a tad unfortunate, for where the writing deviates from the dark humor it feels a tad common. Still, overall this is pretty fun!

The crowd-sourced inception of the project is marvelously novel. While director Paul Verhoeven lends his own hand to the writing to tie it all together, clearly the folks who contributed otherwise are no slouches, either. In fact, whether one wishes to credit Verhoeven alone with his skills as a filmmaker, or the collective imagination of non-professionals who pieced together the story, I don't think those origins are reflected in the finished product the way one might fear. The technical craft of 'Tricked' from behind the scenes is impeccable, and the writing comes across as being equally keen. The characters are smart with a lot going on behind their superficial sociability, and the dialogue between them is decidedly cutting. True, the narrative as a whole isn't the most extraordinary concoction, but it's duly engrossing and satisfying all the same. And just as much to the point, where the story may marginally falter, the scene writing tends to pick up the slack with the same best wit and intelligence that we recognize elsewhere in the assembled screenplay.

I also really like the cast. The characters distinctly vary even as they share personality traits, but are also written with sufficient room to allow the ensemble a measure of interpretation. And they take advantage of what they're given with fine portrayals to really bring the figures to vivid life. It hardly seems fair to even highlight one actor over another, as at one point or another each is given the spotlight and demonstrates their abilities.

Purely as a point of comparison I'd be curious to watch the companion feature, 'Counterparts,' that was derived directly from the crowd-sourced material. As it is, 'Tricked' is imperfect, yet nonetheless a delightful addition to Verhoeven's body of work. Even for as consciously bitter as much of the humor and story beats may be, one could argue that this remains light amusement relative to some of the director's other films. There were a lot of ways this could have gone wrong, though, and not least with Verhoeven's experience and steady guiding hand at the helm, the movie is highly enjoyable and a good use of 55 short minutes.

Short experimental film where people gave ideas to the scenario. The film bounces joyously into scandals of small sizes and reactions are not quite predictable. Funny but very light.

Maybe sweet is the wrong word to use, especially when it comes to a movie made by Paul Verhoeven. But I really liked this one. It may be predictable (to a point), but it is a fun watch, with some really good moments. It's not PC (expected), but it's also very short, running just under an hour.

Paul wanted to stay active so he made this movie, while waiting for a bigger job to happen. That doesn't mean he just went ahead and made it fast and without planning. There is a making of on the DVD that shows you the preparation he took and how he planned a lot of things. He treated this like a feature length even though it wasn't. It's also "european", so expect nudity and other things in it

During the birthday party of the wolf 50 year-old entrepreneur Remco (Peter Blok) promoted by his beloved wife and partner Ineke (Ricky Koole), he learns that his former lover Nadja (Sallie Harmsen) is pregnant. On the next morning, he also learns that his two other partners have betrayed him and are trying to sell his company to the Chinese. They blackmail him with Nadja´s baby, promising that she will disappear if he sells the company. Meanwhile his daughter, her best friend and his son discover a secret that will affect Remco´s business.

"Steekspel", a.k.a. "Tricked", is a witty and very funny comedy by Paul Verhoeven. The storyline is simple about a dysfunctional family and with several twists and an excellent open conclusion. The nice cast is another attraction of this underrated film. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Traição" ("Betrayal")