The Deal

Just saw the film tonight at the 25th annual Jerusalem Film Festival, screened in the "Jewish Experience" category. This is of course not surprising since the film is hugely fun, mixing Judaism/Israeli aspects into a wonderful satire of Hollywood filmdom. Don't take this film too seriously, although the acting is wonderful, with everyone clearly knowing it's all in fun. Despite that, I really got into the 'vibe' of the story, waiting to see whether they'd manage to finish making the film - whichever one it'll be. The whole Jewish angle of the film is of course especially fun for us here in Israel, and even more so because Israeli actor Sharon Reginiano plays Levy the director and inserts all sorts of comments in Hebrew which may be lost to non-Hebrew speakers, even if they are translated. The film reminded me very much of "The Hebrew Hammer" (2003) with Adam Goldberg which I saw at the JFF of that year. Both films use the Jewish/Israeli/Hebrew slants to the max and are extremely tongue-in-cheek, satirizing their respective genres. Don't over-analyze or dissect this film - just see it for what it is, a fun satire of Hollywood movie-making and all it involves. Don't know if this'll catch on in the overall US/worldwide markets, but we here sure enjoyed it. And if it does go straight to DVD, no matter - just enjoy it that way!

Before watching The Deal I read some positive reviews from over excited people, thought I was going to be in for a treat, certainly with William H. Macy and Meg Ryan in the cast, two actors that I appreciate, but in the end it was just disappointing. The acting was good though, but the story is just a bit boring. And it's not the couple comedy scenes that were going to save this picture. I wished I liked it more but I didn't, I was actually glad when I saw the end credits appear, felt like a three hour movie instead of half that time.

The Deal is a terrifyingly accurate portrayal of cut-throat Hollywood. Williams H Macy stars as a producer on a relentless pursuit of getting his movie made. Meg Ryan co-stars as a studio head in this dry comedy. William H Macy can do more than just act. HE CAN WRITE! He transcends his normal boundaries of story-telling as a stunning character actor, to bringing charters alive from the page. He is charming and brings the whole idea of "delightful destruction" to his character while mocking the Hollywood film industry. If you like Meg Ryan then you will not be disappointed with this film. She brings the Meg Ryan we know and love to this character. LL Cool J also stars as a Jewish action star in this comedy that you will not want to miss!

It would have been nice if there are other users who commented before me, so that I can just copy paste their comments and edit it, rather than having to write it myself. Haha Kidding, it would not be nice to read comments that you know you've read it somewhere else, makes it like something kinda like deja vu, no ? My point exactly. This film is original, and a refreshing watch, after being fed by the many films Hollywood churned out that more or less have the same storyline. This film is original, one has to watch it to the end (without pressing fast forward button, I might add) and felt good that the ending is good.

I enjoyed the film very much, and even though it's not Oscar material, it's undeniably a good film. While I expect there are trolls lurking in the Internet, ready to discredit whatever good comments one make, I do not mind the least bit.

Recommended watch, especially to those who want storyline that is different than the usual ones they usually watch on their telly.

Bill Macy, Meg Ryan, Elliot Gould, and LL Cool J star in "The Deal" from 2008, directed by Steven Schachter and written by Macy and Schacter.

Macy plays another loser, this time Charlie Berns, who has a couple of producer credits on his resume, but they're not recent, and he can't get arrested. His nephew (Jason Ritter) gives him his script about Benjamin Disraeli to read. He's not interested in it but then he sees an article about a major star in adventure films, Bobby Mason (LL Cool J) who has converted to Judaism and wants to do a film with a Jewish theme for his next project.

Charlie manages to convince a studio that he has Bobby Mason's next kick your butt film and a studio executive, Deidre (Meg Ryan) is assigned to make it happen. Soon "Bill & Ben" is being filmed, with Berns' heartbroken nephew screaming, "There's not one word of my script in this." Then Bobby Mason is kidnapped and held for ransom, and the studio doesn't want to pay. But Deidre has an idea.

We've seen these behind the scenes getting a movie made before, and this is absurd but quite good. And how absurd is it? Probably not far off. Macy is excellent as Berns, who has been around the block a few times and knows how to talk his way into and out of trouble. This movie took a while to get made, so there's no doubt Macy knew what he was talking about when he wrote the script - I'm sure it wasn't a new experience for him.

Ryan's role could have been played by anyone, but at 47 and once the ingénue du jour (as Rene Zwelleger, Reese Witherspoon, Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon, and Sally Field once were), she has a problem. While leading men are leading men from the time they're in their twenties until death, pert, pretty young actresses have a limited shelf life, and the transition to lead woman not only is difficult, it's often not even worth it since that doesn't last long either. Today things are much better -- at least 30 is no longer the cut-off like it was in Bette Davis' day -- but the fact remains, unless your name is Meryl Streep, you'll be in character roles by the time you're 55. If you have a job. So I can't blame her for doing this role.

Good, enjoyable movie, especially if you're a writer and know what happens to scripts in Hollywood.