The Business of Strangers

Four words, this movie is amazing. I haven't seen Stockard Channing this good since Six Degrees of Separation. This is definitely her best performance to date. Julia Stiles was superb. I haven't walked out of a theater this pleased in ages. Although I have been a fan of Stockard since Grease, my real delight was the script. This is great writing. It's enigmatic and unpredictable, funny yet compelling. I tip my hat to Patrick Stettner. Who needs special effects, long months of filming and huge budgets, when you have such wonderful script and great acting. All shot in 23 days.

Paula hates men, and has learned to use her sexual attractiveness as a weapon against them. It's made obvious the way she likes to taunt them in the elevator, the dance floor. Making out in the hallway just enough to get him turned on, then kick him away. Throwing their lame smalltalk back in their face. (At the end of the movie I asked my SO why she "did it" and the answer was "because she can." I got it right.)

Paula is a constant, but what about Julie? Together but brittle, Paula boils things to the surface of Julie that otherwise would not have come to light without sufficient heat. This movie keeps you watching, and you can't help but question whether the characters and fallen "out of character" or not. But that's the whole point.

You keep watching because you want to see where it goes. Over the edge, or reel back to safety?

Actors aside, the background is perfect, as anyone who has spent any amount of time on business trips knows.

Eight stars.

Call it an art film. Call it low-budget. Call it limited-release. But it's a lot more entertaining and intelligent than 95 percent of what Hollywood produces these days. (I know this was filmed primarily in New Jersey, but you know where I'm coming from.)

The psychological and physical tension between the two leading characters (Channing and Stiles) really makes this film. There's a lot to think about here, including the price to be paid for corporate success and how trust often ends up being the world's most valuable commodity.

Anyone who's ever reached the top of the corporate ladder and then found themselves to tired to enjoy it will appreciate Channing's performance. She's a perfect fit for this role, strong and confident on one hand but insecure and a tad lonely on the other.

It seems strange to say it, but I really liked something about how the culture of business travel was illustrated in the movie -- hotel bars, shuttle buses, cell phones, neatly-organized suitcases, lounges, alarm clocks. Maybe these characters simply have more impact in such an artificial environment.

A solid 8 1/2 out of 10.

Poignant tale of two eager women; one has passed her prime and bears the scares of the still male dominated business world of the early new millennium is aggressively portrayed to a 'T' (as in Tenacious) by Stockard Channing who is chillingly ruthless from frame to frame. The other younger, equally crafty, as well as wickedly sly woman is played by Julia Stiles who no doubt is cast by design to steal the glances of the male audience as well as opposite genders in this story of destructive payback.

Stiles' character is manipulatively calculating as she subtly unfolds a selfish plan to map a path to own success yet who's comeuppance could inevitably be in her near future at the hands of her adversary's lofty rank… or possibly visa-versa given that both become disillusioned by the cardinal sins of greed, envy and last but certainly not least, lust. Gets off the track a bit with the man-humiliation angle which may have went a bit to far but both Channing is stellar and Stiles is something to be reckoned with in this picture in more ways than one as both should be duly commended for their outstanding performances. Comparisons to Neil LaBute's powerful 1997 'In the Company of Men' are inevitable but still stands well on its own.

What a pleasure to watch Stockard Channing in this film! The range of emotions she undergoes playing Julie, an over-the-hill, frustrated and angry woman, who perhaps has been overlooked by her employers, like so many other women with a lot of qualifications, too many times. She is totally vulnerable. She's afraid of losing her job, which she has worked probably so hard to obtain and keep. She goes from one extreme to another in a range that is very hard to imagine another could convey as eloquently as Ms. Channing.

She meets her match when Paula, her new assistant, gets into the picture. Paula is an enigmatic character who we don't know where she's coming from, yet, she exerts an incredible amount of power over her newly acquired boss. That's when the fun and games begin. Julia Stiles projects a mystery about who this assistant is, obviously a product of privilege and wealth in sharp contrast with Stockard Channing character, who we get to know, comes from very humble origin and whose ascent into the position she is now is the product of hard work. Her ambition is natural because her Julie has had to struggle and fight for whatever she has gotten from life, including her present executive position.

It's like a good tennis match watching these two actresses go at it, and at each other throughout the film, but it is Miss Channing who outshines and makes this feature so much fun to watch. The script and direction from Patrick Stettner are just right, but he is well served by his cast.