The Prime Gig

I once worked for an old line telemarketing company. I was the guy who trained sales people, not telemarketers who read scripts. I was also the guy who filled phone dialing consoles with scammers when it came time to bid contracts, scammers being the type of people I could not hire for anything other than contract bids. Scammers are good. If you take a deep breath, they can close a sale on that. So, movies like The Prime Gig and Glengarry Glen Ross are fascinating because, if you pay attention, you'll get to see things that most people never get to see, never mind believe.

The Prime Gig is well done and more than real enough for those who like stories about scams. The acting is good and there's an absence of melodrama. Everything is done straight up. Movies like this are difficult to end but here we are given a real life ending. The ending works. The movie works. I very much enjoyed it.

This is a great movie with a great cast however Vince Vaughn gives perhaps his best dramatic performance to date. Unlike Will Ferrel, Vaughn can do both comedy and drama.

This is a great movie thats shows us the real sleazy and corrupt world of telemarketing. In fact if your a telemarketer watching this film , youll probably be mad since it exposed your corrupt jobs!! lol

Vaughn plays Penny Wise, a small but great telemarketer who knows how to con people into making sales for his cheap company.

Eventually a bigger telemarketing scheme headed by the character of Ed Harris wants to use Penny's "skills" in this area to pull of a Million Dollar scam.

Meanwhile Penny's friend is out of work and relies on him for support.

Penny is caught in a corner, work with this rich white scoundrels to steal millions and sell his soul to the devil , so to speak, or do the right thing?

This a great movie about moral dilemna and what you really do if you really had to put your money where your mouth and live up to your own idealogies.

All the performances are great and the movie, doesn't really tell you what Penny's "final decision" will be until the 10 minutes he "goes along" with the scam and looks like he will do it with the rest of them.

Highly recommended.

I had no idea what to expect from this movie. It just happened to be on cable and Vince was in it, so I watched.

I liked the portrayal of each character in this film. Greed, desperation, betrayal...I found myself disgusted with some of the characters, mainly Julia Ormond and Ed Harris. I can't stand Julia Ormond so to watch her as a conniving shrew was quite satisfying. If you can't stomach the dark underbelly of human behavior,and watching how bad someone can screw over another person, than this film's not for you. At the end I found myself bummed out - but that's not necessarily so bad. You need to be in the right mood to watch this. It's low-key, though not boring and definitely not a 'feel good' film. I can understand how some people didn't like it, but I think Vince Vaughn fans will be happy enough (I'm one myself).

I love watching movies. I work for blockbuster for God's sakes....I watch movies all the time. I thought this movie had a good premise and that the actiing was fine(although not stellar). The thing that bothers me about this movie was the ending...it left too many unanswered questions....to many unknowns....It is good for a bored night when u don't have anything else to do but don't ask questions after it's over because they will be unanswered and unknown...big dissappointment. Overall decent movie but not great. if you can see it for free like I did...it's not a bad way to spend an hour and a half if not...wait till it comes on cable

As someone who used to work in a telemarketing gig in Las Vegas (two months of my life I would rather forget about), I can tell you that the first half hour of "The Prime Gig" is the most realistic look at telemarketing ever filmed. The look, the feel, the characters and the situations all ring incredibly true.

One of those characters is Penny (Vince Vaughn), the best salesman in this small time operation. He is the typical big fish in the little pool, but the title promises that he will soon achieve the big time. Of course, he does move on to a "prime gig," and this is where the realism of the movie breaks down. But becoming less realistic doesn't mean the movie becomes less engaging. As much as I enjoyed the first 30 minutes, the last hour is pretty powerful itself.

Two things sustain this movie and make well worth watching:

First, the acting. Besides Vaughn the cast includes Ed Harris, Julia Ormond, Wallace Shawn and George Wendt. All are excellent.

Secondly, at the heart of this movie is a morality tale. Director Gregory Mosher has peered into the depths of the American telemarketing industry. He has looked at the small time operations and the prime gigs.

And what he has found is disturbing. He has found a greed that does not care who it hurts. A greed that will rob an elderly woman of her life savings without a second thought. A greed that will rip off employees as easily as customers. The ending of this movie may be predictable, but it is still very powerful.

So while others on this site have bashed this movie, pay them no attention. You will love "The Prime Gig." Trust me! Hey, would I lie to you? Just give me your trust, and I won't let you down!