While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Kevin Spacey, more often than not, gets handed the sharpest, funniest, cleverest, most desirable monologues in his roles. In Glengarry Glen Ross, he delivered cold lines of fury when talking to his deadbeat employees and took some severe blows to the ego when he was jabbed with personal insults. In American Beauty, it was entrancing to hear him narrate his story with such gratitude and depth, along with giving us one of the best performances of the decade. And in K-PAX, he convincingly played an alleged extraterrestrial who seemed to appear out of thin air and turn a skeptical psychiatrist into a true believer. The man is a treasure often shorthanded and under-valued.Spacey gives yet another fantastic performance of true power and control in Swimming With Sharks, a black comedy that is heavy on the laughs and insight, and easy on the levels of conformity and monotony. This is a biting drama of business and progress in the work world, with some of the toughest and most brutal insight into the corporate world that can only be compared to the level of truths brought in Kevin Smith's Clerks and Mike Judge's Office Space. This deserves a spot in the same league.Guy (Frank Whaley) is a young writer who is extremely satisfied to get a job working as the assistant for movie mogul Buddy Ackerman, played by Kevin Spacey. Guy expects the job to be beneficial and insightful, until he sees Buddy's true side, which is loud, obnoxious, pretentious, smothering, overbearing, and just plain unforgiving behavior as he takes pride in being belligerent and disrespectful to his assistants. In an extremely well written scene involving Guy trying to reason with Buddy about his yelling and his uncontrollable tirades, Buddy browbeats him relentlessly by telling him, "my bathmat means more to me than you," at the same time throwing pencils at him saying, "these pencils more important, these pens more important." The key to this scene is that both men have extremely valid points; Guy is trying to speak on a human-level with Buddy and brings up the idea of how in a business relationship, one must have the skill and ability to hold a grown-up discussion with one another. On the other hand, Buddy remarks on how you need to be a man to do the job and you must accept the torment as a means to get somewhere in the world. Further commentary is provided when we open up and see Buddy as more than a cynic, but how he got to be one and whether or not guy is on the same track heading to the same inevitable destination.The film is intercut with scenes showing Guy breaking in to Buddy's home, taking him hostage by tying him to his chair, and preceding to torture him mercilessly, reminding him of all the times he was demanding and ruthless to him. Again, the scene is not supposed to inspire moments of shock and jolts as it is to prove to the audience that both these men have perfectly valid points. Are Guy's actions justifiable? Yes, but they're not particularly right. Are Buddy's reasons for being mean and ruthless to his assistants justified? Yes, but they're not particularly right either.Writer/director George Huang wrote the film based off of what he experienced as an executive assistant at Columbia Pictures. Whether or not the acts he was involved in were this extreme or are fabricated to fit film's high standard I can not say, but Huang clearly knows what aspiring young cinephiles (or just business man on the lowest step of the corporate ladder) must go through and put up with in order to make it big. Where Huang scores effortlessly is in the writing, which is sharp, brutal, and all around satisfying. Seeing these men spit out some of the foulest things imaginable is unbelievably satisfying and is not only played for laughs but for intelligence.While the moments of darkness and subversive violence that are spliced in with the moments of typical office conundrums and tribulations may be a bit abrupt, they are nonetheless faithful and necessary to the film's point. I've always seen film as a device used to depict either morals, ideas, ideologies, places usually left unexplored, utopias, etc, but I've too seen it has a brilliant way to showcase events, lifestyles, and modern quirks. Swimming With Sharks is a brutally well written piece brilliantly taking us into the life of an overworked and under-appreciated businessman who is just looking for respect and fair treatment.Starring: Kevin Spacey and Frank Whaley. Directed by: George Huang.

Ackerman obviously has problems or he wouldn't be acting quite in the way that he is, but director George Huang and Spacey are also careful to show that Ackerman has a lot more going on than surface behavior--he's acting the way that he is purposefully, both to get his due now as part of the establishment and to coyly manipulate his young, meek and abused underling, Guy (Frank Whaley), along with everyone else he comes into contact with. His aim is to mold Guy in a particular way--a way that works even though Guy thinks that he's severely breaking form in the extended penultimate scene that's intercut with Guy and Ackerman's history.Huang shows professional relationships as consisting mostly of politicking and manipulation. That's true at every level--certainly even Guy is doing this. There is very little authenticity to anyone in their working relationships. That seems pretty accurate to me, unfortunately. It's notable that the one dream of authenticity in the film--Guy talking about moving to Wyoming with Dawn (Michelle Forbes)--is treated and dispensed with as an unreachable fantasy, and it's also notable (and is fairly literally pointed out in the film) that Dawn, the one character who tries to demand being more authentic amidst the "shark infested waters" of the professional world, basically never gets anywhere.In the highly metaphorical ending of the film, things remain manipulative, political and backstabbing, and in that climate, at least two out of three characters "win". Huang seems to be suggesting that the professional world ain't likely to change any time soon, and that even if you try to change it or manipulate the game itself, you're likely to just get eaten up by it, processed by it and incorporated into it anyway. Again, I can't say I disagree with him.

by Dane Youssef Now here's a movie for those looking for an attack on white-collar corporate office life, the spinning gears of Hollywood. "Swimming With Sharks" seems to owe more than a little something to "Dilbert." The movie is more about Corporate America than Hollywood. There are a lot of white-collar touches that apply to offices, cubicles and other such rather than the Hollywood spin machine. Like Robert Altman's "The Player," this is one of those thrillers about people in "the biz" who are driven to the breaking point by how cruel L.A. can really be.The film's writer/director George Huang himself was a former personal assistant to some of the biggest names in Hollywood, has described the movie as "20% autobiographical." Much of this one is said to be based on his experience working for noted mega-mogul producer Joel Silver for Columbia Pictures. So it should come as no surprise what-so-ever that his first crack at film was his own life story.Surprise, surprise, huh? Well, more or less.Despite Kevin Spacey being the big name in this movie and him getting first-billing, Frank Whaley ("Career Opportunities") is the star of this one. Most of anything with him head-lining is a sign of a bad movie ("Cold Dog Soup" and "The Jimmy Show"), but this is one of those where he shines because he's allowed to. He's not the most versatile actor, the best-looking or the most charismatic. He's had a rep as being something of the life-long "bit player." But when he's given a movie, script and part which allows him any headway, he damn well manages to make the most of it.Spacey, being one of Hollywood's finest and renown, is able to pull off the screaming antagonistic drill-instructor and the restrained, tortured hostage here pitch perfectly. Whaley effectively plays the green, naive wide-eyed rookie to the Hollywood roulette wheel with his usual perfection, but when the other shoe drops, he doesn't quite pull off the scorned, disgruntled employee seeking revenge. His Jekyll isn't as convincing as his Hyde. He doesn't scare us. He never seems truly unhinged. Maybe that's why Whaley sticks to the youthful deer-in-the-headlights. Whaley doesn't really seem as demented and unhinged as he should in his captor scenes. He's best as a whipping boy--which is why he plays so many.1994 was the official year for Spacey. He got his breakout with the TV series "Wiseguys," and made the big screen transition with worthwhile fare like his Oscar-winning supporting role in "The Usual Suspects," "The Ref," "Se7en" and this. Spacey monopolized himself in the '94 as "absolute talent" (my term).Benecio Del Toro, the "Brad Pitt of Mexico" (someone else's quote, believe me, I never dubbed him such) has a quickie cameo as Spacey's assistant who's given his three weeks' notice and is on the way out, making way for Guy. But not before giving Whaley some final parting words of wisdom. "Protect his interests, serve his needs. What you think means nothing. What you feel means nothing. You have no brain. He yells all the time. It's a lose-lose situation." This job is a fast-track shortcut to the top and if Guy does right and keeps his mouth open wide to catch all of Buddy's crap, he may very well be someday on the same mantel as Buddy and his former assistants. Everything Guy'll ever need to know about his job, he learns on day one.Enter Dawn Locklard (Michelle Forbes of "Guiding Light" and "24"), another powerful Hollywood producer who Guy doesn't have the best first meeting with. She doesn't show a lot of warmth, which explains why she's a producer.She herself is angry and cynical, and throughout the course of the film, we will see why. She eventually warms up to Guy and asks him out. Guy is stunned. But she needs Buddy on her side and is interested in him getting behind her new project. Guy sees this as an opportunity. Her new project for the studio, "Real Life" may just be Guy's window of opportunity. She seems to be interested in Guy because he's the most real thing she's seen in the Valley for the longest time. But does she really feel something for him or is she just using him? Is Buddy two- faced and back-stabbing or is Dawn? Guy no longer knows what's real and what's what? Although when Guy starts to show some spine after a lot of Buddy's tantrums, the payoff is almost evenly matched with the faux-sugar scene. Buddy gets to emotionally, verbally (and at times, physically) abuses Guy (and apparently all his assistant's) on every possible occasion. He also gets to skewer just about everyone who crosses his path."Swimming With Sharks" is no featherweight comedy for a slow night about a bullying boss like the trailer lead you to believe. It's a film which deals with white-collar office comedy and torturous drama. Shifting from a lightweight comedy to a torturous thriller. It's sort of schizophrenic thing. We're laughing heartily one minute and horrified the next. A lot of time, this one keeps us guessing as it criss-crosses from Buddy torturing Guy to vice-versa.But there's a lot (maybe too much) about this one that rings too-true to life. A lot of moments filled with the harsh insights and disillusioned truths that one learns from living an uncharmed life. And so there's illuminating light and lessons, as well as laughs. Not to mention some great heavier moments where ugly secrets about Buddy and... well, surprisingly Dawn are revealed.The plot is over-developed and the ending is more poetic than anything else. But most of the movie really does work and really does sticks with you... like all the great ones do.--Hoo-Ray For Corporate Hollywood, Dane Youssef

Kevin Spacey arrived on the professional screen in 1986 and few people noticed his presence. Since then he has firmly established himself as a commanding actor, with such films as 'SeVen' and the dramatic suspense film ' The Usual Suspects.' Playing heavies comes natural to him as when he portrays sympathetic victims. In this movie called " Swimming with Sharks " Spacey displays true artistry. The film industry in Hollywood is a dog eat dog world and in order to survive that environment, one must become as vicious as a starving rottweiler. Buddy Ackerman (Kevin Spacey) is as heartless, ruthless, unsympathetic and ambivalent as a circling shark. His newly employed assistant arrives with great enthusiasm, brimming naivety and is called simply 'Guy' (Frank Whaley). No sooner does guy start his job, when Ackerman makes him believe he is working in the Devil's Domain, by treating him to an unending barrage of verbal and physical abuse. The situation becomes explosive when Ackerman discover's Guy's girlfriend Dawn Lockard (Michelle Forbes) is a former lover and now rival producer. Insulted, verbally berated and dressed down in front of every other employee in the office, Guy decides to give his boss a payback. The entire film is a triumph for Spacey and one which with the help of his co-stars has created a Classic for audiences everywhere. If you're strong enough to see Spacey as a monstrous Taskmaster, this is the movie for you. ****