New Suit

As self-confessed movie addict, I'd thought I'd seen it all -- but the new indie feature NEW SUIT still managed to impress me. Gorgeously filmed in the new digital 24P (the same technique used by George Lucas for the new Star Wars), NEW SUIT is reminiscent of other hip, fun movie satires like Swimming With Sharks, Living In Oblivion or even LA Story. This one, directed by Frenchman Francois Velle, is deliciously sharp and wickedly dark. Perhaps it takes an outsider to truly see through the gauze of the Hollywood dream factory. Smartly written, beautifully edited, finely acted and backed by a snazzy, peppy soundtrack, NEW SUIT is almost flawless as this French director's crossover English-language debut. As Hollywood hopeful Kevin Taylor, Jordan Bridges is both down-to-earth and likeable. Like his father Beau, he seems set for a very solid movie career. This kid has decency written all over him and is gorgeous to boot. The rest of the cast are equally charismatic, from Marisa Coughlin as beautiful aspiring agent Marianne Roxbury to Dan Hedaya as fearsome CEO Muster Hansau (even the names are hilariously on the nose). Mark Setlock and Heather Donohue (of Blair Witch fame) provide a wonderful comic due as Muster's put upon development executives, driven entirely by fear. Donohue, in particular, reminds one of a young Catherine O'Hara and one hopes she gets the chance to show off her comic talents in other movies. Screenwriter Craig Sherman even takes a cameo as the icecream man Kevin names his fictitious writer after (Jordan Strawberry).

Without giving the plot away, the bones of the story are deliciously simple. Disgusted by the game-playing and back-biting of the studio industry, Kevin takes the concept of the Emperor's New Clothes and makes up an entirely fictitious 'hot script' - just for the joy of seeing his peers squirm as they pretend to have read it. Too late, his 'joke' snowballs out of control - and even Marianne gets in on the scheme. Before she and Kevin know it, she's incited a bidding war between two rival producers, mediated by a icy, bald-domed studio head Braggy Shoot (with his own personal Feng Shui advisor) in a very funny performance by ER's Paul McCrane.

There's far too much to compliment about NEW SUIT -- it's richly layered with many, many insider jokes - and it's the kind of movie you'll want to watch a few times over to really savor all the funny details and smart/snide punchlines. NEW SUIT has the potential to be a hip cult favorite.

What a refreshing, well-written movie is the comedy New Suit. Talented fresh faces backed by solid veterans comprise a very able cast. The clever shooting was done in digital 24P a la George Lucas with fine results -- The framing, colors and scenes are quite lovely. This magnificent send-up of Hollywood is a delight to behold... Quite amazing considering its modest $1 million budget. New Suit is an excellent comedy and a fantastic tonic for the mediocre drivel that the big studios distribute. This movie is obviously the work of a great team -- it's a winner.

New Suit, which opens tomorrow, I had the chance to see on the Fox lot last year. Having been around and developing several screenplays, I can honestly say that this film looks to have been written by someone who has gone through some of the exact same things.

While certainly some of the comedy falls short, because comedies aren't easy to do, Jordan Bridges plays a pretty good "new guy" just starting out in the biz who has high hopes, yet are dashed by how he sees that films are really picked.

Most ' angry film students' who lived in fantasy land, like I once did, won't really appreciate the humor because they are dealing mostly with the microcosm of film school where they can do what they like (like the previos reviewer). That said, I do think that much of the films humor may be lost on a non-industry crowd, so I don't know where this film's future lies. Needless to say, I enjoyed it. (The side characters of the junior executives is dead on.)

Certainly photographed and cut like any other comedy released by a major studio, New Suit may not leave a big mark on anyone, but it's worth a look.

pJ

I came to a screening of NEW SUIT with a friend, and I was just blown away. I knew nothing at all about it beforehand, and afterwards I was just happy. It's kind of a feel-good satire. It's kind of like "The Player" and "Swimming With Sharks" but with more jokes, and snappier dialogue than "Swimming With Sharks" and no dead bodies. It's more fun and not as dark as those movies. I recommend seeing this one strongly. You won't regret it. The story itself sounds deceptively simple. Guy comes to Hollywood. He wants to be a writer and he ends up with a lame job as an assistant. He's really not happy. He plays a trick on his friends and tells them that there's a new script they have to read called "The New Suit" by a guy called Jackson Strawberry. The joke is that there is no script and no author. Very quickly, those friends tell their friends, and it runs out of control very quickly.

Soon everybody's talking about "The New Suit" and this mystery writer. It gets to a point where people are trying to buy this fake script. I won't spoil the ending, but it's really unexpected.

I said that it's deceptively simple, because there's a lot going on here. First of all the movie is fast. It moves very quickly. The dialogue and characters are sharp, and nasty and absolutely dead-on hilarious. the movie never stoops to cater to the lowest common denominator. you've got to pay attention because things start to happen so quickly and the movie doesn't explain everything. You've got to figure it out. New Suit has a great look. I saw it projected in a wide-screen format and it was really rich. I recognized some of the actors (Dan Hedaye), but all of them were fantastic - across the board. The two leads (Marisa Coughlan and Jordan Bridges) were very charismatic. They were familiar to me but this movie really shows their capabilities. There's also Paul MCrane from ER. And you'll be surprised by his performance. And Heather Donahue from The Blair Witch Project has a supporting role, and she proves herself here. Dan Hedaye is raw and sleazy and scary here - an excellent performance as good as anything I've seen him do. But really, the acting is solid here. The music was very cool. Editing is quick. Its well-directed, but I did get dizzy at one point (you'll see what I mean). But mostly you're just going to laugh. Some of the jokes are set up way in advance and I had to laugh out loud, and I never do that. The dialogue was just sharp and youve met all of these characters before. I did get a little confused at one point and I will say that the movie starts out like a typical Hollywood story, and you feel like you've seen this before, and then it kicks in and surprises you. Overall you leave the theater feeling good. It's a fully-realized satire and I strongly recommend it. If you like your comedy with a brain, you'll like it a lot.

I was in New York and saw this film at the GenArt festival. I didn't know what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised with this smart comedy. With the kinds of movies the studios are releasing, it's refreshing to see such a well made, fun and entertaining indie film. The characters are hilarious, with an especially funny depiction of a desperate Hollywood producer by Dan Hedaya. The audience loved it and I was glad I got to see the film.