Sadly Over-hyped

Pretty Good

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story (2003)emerged from the ashes of the world trade centre to less than positive reviews. Yet if there were a man who deserves credit for holding the country together at that difficult moment it was Rudy Giuliani. And this movie covers the pluses and the minuses of his administration.The whole sequence of 9 - 11 is a difficult subject matter to approach because it reveals flaws in the US system and the American personality. Lets go back to 9 - 11 at 9, the person who calls himself the war president, a man who had come to power in a cloudy election which bordered on a coup d'etat vanished into the mist. Rudy Giuliani grabbed the microphones and held the nation together. What kind of man does that? Is he a good family man? Well, no. While he was mayor he was carrying on an affair with a staffer whom he appointed a Commissioner. He put her aside and took on another girlfriend. His incumbent wife learned of his plans to divorce her from the newspapers. Still another former wife was on the payroll in the Park's Department.Did he come from good family? Well, not exactly. Though famed as a crime fighter, Rudy acknowledged his father had done time.Did he act sensibly and with restraint? Perhaps not. Though Rudy is much lauded for a crack down on the Mafia, city police were in fact arresting bicyclists for failing to carry identification and other picayune infractions.Were his police effective and well disciplined? Well no. The Finest as shown in this movie gunned down a Bronx householder who was attempting to show identification. The movie didn't talk about the other well known transgression of morality, a sexual assault apparently sanctioned by an entire precinct.However, the man of the moment on 9 - 11 was Big Rudy and for all the ill that can be said of him he deserves credit for his actions that day. James woods captures the man and the moment in a grand eloquent performance.

The film is obvious a Hollywood capitalization on a persona. It is definitely overdramatized, but it does play out some of the more important moments in Giuliani's career. Consequently, if one has an even minute understanding of his political career, the film allows a person to reflect on it a bit more easily. This film is not a political analysis of any sort, nor is there a real vestige character portrayal. It's much more a docudrama than anything else, and that is to be expected from a "movie of the week."

I'll start by saying I'm a fan of Mr. Giuliani and read his book, Leadership. So I was very disappointed by this movie for several reasons.The script is extremely flat. Yes, it does show that Giuliani had a temper, liked opera and loved the law. But in a way that made me think the writer had a checklist to work from. And one that did not include Giuliani's lighter side. The script barely allows him to smile or laugh or enjoy the people around him. For example, it could have included his appearances on Saturday Night Live, his second Mayoral race and the image problem he had to overcome or his friendship with Joe Torre and the Yankees. Indeed, SHOWING his relationship to the team, rather than just SAYING he loved them, would have done wonders for showing him as the proudest New Yorker. And making an effort to portray has relationship with his children would have been nice, too.The people around Giuliani rarely react to him. For example, on becoming the lead Federal Prosecutor in Manhattan, he tells a roomful of Federal Prosecutors that they have gotten fat and lazy and no one reacts in any way. He explains to a roomful of prosecutors how he will take down the Mafia on conspiracy to violate RICO laws (which he reminds them he wrote) and again, no one reacts. The most frequent reaction is silent bustling in response to the scripted tirades. He's often "right", but he's not even allowed to enjoy outsmarting the other guy (a la Jack McCoy of Law & Order).I've seen the movie twice now (hoping it would be better) and still don't know why the 9/11 events are done in flashback throughout the movie. My only guess is they couldn't figure out how to end it otherwise.Overall, I think that Rudy Giuliani deserved a much better biography. Hopefully someone will do it someday.

I haven't seen all the movies he's been in, but this is the best James Woods since Citizen Cohen, I think.The movie itself is compelling and is told in flashback form from I haven't seen all the movies he's been in, but this is the best James Woods since Citizen Cohen, I think.The movie itself is compelling and is told in flashback form from September 11. It emphasis Giuliani's love for the law and for New York City.As an American, it was hard to watch without having my tears jerked but that yet, I had to watch.The performances by the other actors and actresses were all good too. Some people will say its a white wash but I felt it depicted Rudy Giuliani the man, his good side, his obsession with cleaning up NYC, hit temper, his marital infidelities, the horror of finding out his father was once arrested and jailed for armed robbery. They don't come much better then this.Oh, I forgot, his love of opera. Its all in there.I hope there will be a DVD release.