"The Prime Gig" News6 November 2000Jo found two new Prime Gig pics at the www.indiepics.com site. Here are two (very different) reviews from today's British press: The London Evening Standard (This is London): The Prime Gig Vince Vaughn, Ed Harris, Julia Ormond. Dir: Gregory Mosher. US, 97min. In what is fast becoming a classic indie film scenario - hard-nosed telephone selling for the up-and-coming, get-rich-quick brigade (see Boiler Room and Glengarry Glen Ross for details) - acclaimed theatre director Mosher brings a tight theatrical focus to this tale of a bright young telephone salesman who joins up with an ageing veteran of the fast-talking art to make big bucks damn quick. Throw in a brilliant girl salesperson (Ormond) with a hidden agenda and you have the recipe for a tight, taut human drama, superbly controlled by Mosher and played to perfection by the cast. 6pm, Odeon West End 2 (also Tuesday 7th November, 4pm, Odeon West End 1). The Times: In The Prime Gig, Ed Harris plays a legendary conman whose sidekick (Julia Ormond) recruits Vince Vaughn, a telesales scammer with a small but annoying conscience, to flog some suspect mining stock. The film is so busy trying to hide its blindingly obvious sting ending that it forgets to make its characters even vaguely credible. Far from being high-pressured, it looks to have sprung a leak. 4 November 2000 Mari has found a "Gig" photo featuring my favorite actress, Julia Ormond, and my favorite actor, Ed Harris. Click on it (above) to get the bigger version. Here's some promotional news: NEW YORK (ENTERTAINMENT WIRE) - Cary Woods' Independent Pictures will be the first motion picture production company to pre-load movie trailers on blank high-capacity computer disks manufactured by industry leader Iomega Corporation. (NYSE:IOM). Consumers who buy specially-marked Iomega(R) Jaz(R) disks will soon be able to view a "coming attraction" of Independent Pictures' upcoming film noir "The Prime Gig" straight off the disk without having to log on the Internet. At the end of the two-minute video presentation, users will be able to easily erase the trailer, watch it again, or link to an Iomega contest Web site and register to win one of five pairs of tickets to the film's premiere in February. Independent Pictures, a small New York-based film company, will benefit from the promotion of its film, (which stars Vince Vaughn, Julia Ormond and Ed Harris) in computer stores across the country, including CompUSA, Office Depot, Staples, Fry's Electronics, and Micro Center Computer Department Stores. Iomega will use the venture to showcase its drives' ability to handle full-motion video, to explore a new source of advertising revenue, and to add value for its customers. 21 Sept 2000 Mari has found another "Gig" review on http://www.screendaily.com/ The Prime Gig Lee Marshall in Venice September 20, 2000 Dir: Gregory Mosher. US. 2000. 97 mins. Prod co: Independent Pictures. US dist: Fine Line. Int'l sales: Independent Picures, tel: (1) 212 993 1200. Prod: Cary Woods, Gina Mingacci, Elliot Lewis Rosenblatt. Co-prod/scr: William Wheeler. DoP: John A. Alonzo. Prod des: Richard Hoover. Editor: James Kwei. Music: David Robbins. Main cast: Vince Vaughn (Penny), Julia Ormond (Caitlin), Ed Harris (Kelly Grant), Rory Cochrane (Joel). Director Gregory Mosher is - potentially, at least - a US Sam Mendes: he currently runs the Lincoln Center theatre in New York, and his stage directing credits stretch from Arthur Miller to David Mamet. His first film mixes a large dose of Mamet with a sprinkling of Usual Suspects attitude. But though it teases us effectively enough with a who's-screwing-who guessing game, the film ends up selling its audience down the river; the sting, when it comes, is oddly predictable, and the voyage of the main character is not riveting enough to make up for the shortfall. Independent Pictures specialise in difficult-to-place US indie productions - and for all its commercial aspirations, The Prime Gig is just that. Set in the grubby world of US phone sales scams, the film follows the downs, ups and downs of salesman Penny Wise, who has the gift of wheedling trust out of gullible victims. But at least we know (boy do we know) that his heart is in the right place: his best friend is a disabled waster. Penny's talent qualifies him for a sales operation run by the Mr Big of the "room-running" world - Kelly Grant, played by Ed Harris, running on Truman Story autopilot. In true Suspects style, Mr Big has an English sidekick - though this time she's female, and so obnoxious you wonder why Penny (aka Pendelton) is so keen to hasten his own fall by getting her into bed. Scriptwriter Wheeler is good at the wisecrack badinage of the workplace, at the unease of the American underclass - so the first part of the film, set in a squalid "you've won a free holiday" phone centre - is easily the most enjoyable. When the Kelly Grant part kicks in, the film tries to go Hollywood-clever, without having the resources to do so. An interesting debut, but Not Quite There. 20 Sept 2000 Beryl send me the following review of The Prime Gig from Variety (Sept. 18-24). It was written by David Stratton, the same person who wrote the Variety review of The Barber of Siberia at Cannes '99. "Tony award-winning Broadway director Gregory Mosher's first feature is far from being as distinguished as that of some of his peers, mainly because of a largely uneventful and predictable screenplay by William Wheeler that explores, not very profitably, the murky world of telephone marketing. Vince Vaughn's portrait of a decent man caught up in a sleazy racket evokes some past movie heroes without becoming a figure you can root for. The Prime Gig faces an uphill battle theatrically, with perhaps a better life in ancillary. With an outline
bearing some similarities to the recent Boiler Room,
Wheeler's screenplay establishes Vaughn as Penny Wise (even
the name is grating), an expert at the phone con. He
works for a run-down organization managed by Mick (Stephen
Tobolowsky) and is spokesman for fellow employees,
including Wallace Shawn and George Wendt, when the hand-to-mouth
outfit shuts down without money to pay the staff. These
lengthy preliminaries, which Penny is headhunted by Caitlin Carlson (Julia Ormond), who initialy poses as a blackmailing police officer to test his integrity, but soon reveals herself as the rep of legendary telemarketing guru Kelly Grant (Ed Harris), just out of prison and eager to make a killing selling stock for a huge goldmine project. Penny is rightly suspicious, though he and other members of the team handpicked by Caitlin and Grant, including hotshot Zeke (Roman Malco Jr.), are flown to the mine site and given an impressive spiel. In a fancy office with the latest in telecommunications technology, Penny and the others go to work selling stock in the mine, and, after a painfully slow start, Penny becomes best at the game, winning not only handsome cash bonuses but also Caitlin. Given that much of the film's drama involves characters talking on the phone, Mosher was faced with the formidable challenge of making the material engrossing. His decision to sign on ace d.p. John A. Alonzo was an important one. Alonzo's crisp, widescreen work brings to The Prime Gig a distinction it otherwise lacks. The problem lies in the predictability - and at the same time, the unbelievability - of Wheeler's screenplay. You know pretty much where this is heading from the start, and yet there are still enormous problems with the motivations and actions of some of the key players in the later stages. Not helping the situation is some wincingly 'clever' dialooogue ("Credit cards are my children, and they're hungry"). Burdening the hero with a crippled and forever complaining buddy (well played by Rory Cochrane), a character presumably supposed to be a voice of conscience and who proclaims that telemarketing is fundamentally evil, is another of the screenplay's liabilities. Vaughn is a strong presence as the tired, basically honest, con man, but he lacks the charisma to carry the film. The sheer style and professionalism of Harris enlivens all the scenes in which he appears, playing a character we know is deeply untrustworthy yet who has considerable charm and powers of persuasion. Ormond is effective as the femme fatale, and supporting roles are well limned. Pic's technical credits are sleek in every department." 6 Sept 2000 The Prime Gig got it's first showing on 2 September 2000 at the Venice Film Festival. Mari has found the following two reviews online... Barely a ripple on the Lido by David Gritten (he isn't happy with the competing films and says those showing out of competition are much better...such as Prime Gig) Also out of competition is Prime Gig, an acid tale about the scuzzy world of con artists who work in telesales. Vince Vaughan plays a hotshot with a heart who wants to make big money; Julia Ormond is the girlfriend of the Mr Big who runs a high-stakes mining deal. It's David Mamet territory, which is no surprise: director Gregory Mosher has already directed most premieres of Mamet's plays. Its cinematographer, the great John Alonzo, who shot Chinatown, gives Prime Gig an authentic, grimy, urban 1970s feel that recalls Jack Nicholson classics such as 1971's Drive, He Said. Prime Gig, by Gregory Mosher, in Cinema del presente (review by Robert Bernocchi) Vince Vaughn is a cheating seller. When he lost his job, he receives an offer he can't refuse: to work with an ex bookmaker (Ed Harris) who was jailed for insider trading. Between these two men there is a woman (Julia Ormond). The price of selling could be an alternative title for this movie. If you have worked in the field of sells by phone (I did), you can easily understand what this movie is about. Otherwise, you can learn something more about these people. You can learn, for example, that these societies are very similar to religious organisations, with a chief that sees and knows everything and with his followers that listen silently to his orders. So, who better than the man who created the Truman Show? Ed Harris is great, even if his presence on screen is limitated. The director Gregory Mosher, for the first time behind the camera, has worked mostly on theater, especially with David Mamet. Prime Gig reminded me Glengarry Glen Ross, but without the strength of James Foley movie. And that's diffucult to say that the ending is surprising, mostly if you know some classic dark movies of the '40s. But there are two lines that are great. Ed Harris: "She sleeps with you to get on my nerves". Vince Vaughn: "Then she succeeded". More. Julia Ormond: "What are the married couples telling each other every morning?". Vince Vaughn: "Don't buy anything". |