HEFE'S REVIEW OF:
ANTITRUST (2001)

OPENING THOUGHTS

    I know what you're thinking. Your thinking, "What the hell is this movie, and why is Tim Robbins in it?" Well this is a movie that kind of slipped under most people's radar and was quickly forgotten. As to whose dick got sucked in exchange for Tim Robbins agreeing to be in this movie, I cannot answer. So has this movie been unjustly lost to the annals of history, or should you just let sleeping dogs lie? I love using the word annals.

ACTING

    RYAN PHILLIPPE is just not that good of an actor. The best thing that ever happened to him was being married to Reese Witherspoon, but then he went and fucked that up. He is just too boring and is average in every way. Nothing he does seems natural, none of his emotions or reactions are believable, and for the record I am not a fan of his hair. You just got served Ryan Phillippe.
    RACHAEL LEIGH COOK has no business using her middle name unless she is planning on becoming a serial killer. I want to like Cook, she is almost hot, but her crazy googely eyes are just too off putting for me to get past. I just get lost in the craziness trying to figure out exactly what is wrong with her eyes and before I know it I have missed everything she has just said and am left feeling angry and confused. I suppose this isn't her fault, but I honestly cannot focus on anything else. It would be better if she was just ugly, I could deal with that, but those weird googely eyes are just too distracting to deal with.
    TIM ROBBINS has made a lot of shit and The Shawshank Redemption. I am so disappointed with the rest of Tim Robbins career because he did such a good job in that movie and then he stars in shit like this and Nothing To Lose with Martin Lawrence. Come on man, that is clown shoes! Robbins is not a bad actor he just makes bad choices. However as bad of a choice as this movie was for him, he actually didn't do a bad job. His nerdy, chip-eating, glasses-wearing character was spot on and totally believable. In a way, that almost makes me more upset, if he was a shitty actor I would be ok with him being in a movie like this.

DIRECTION AND SCRIPT

    PETER HOWITT directed this movie just like every other movie I have seen that is based around technology. I think whenever technology is involved as a plot point directors tend to think that this is their chance to make an ultra-cool modern movie that will appeal to the hip young crowd, and they always fuck it up. Displaying random pieces of computer code on the screen is not cool, it will never be cool. I found the style of this movie to be more irritating than anything else.
    HOWARD FRANKLIN wrote a script that I could actually see potential in. Looking back the idea of linking all technologies together into one integrated unit seems surprisingly fitting now. Back when this was made it seemed kind of silly and "big brother-ish", however now just nine years later I can see a practicality for the technology that was being talked about. So I guess that makes this movie a little bit ahead of it's time? I don't know I hesitate to give it that much credit when the dialogue and crappy TV quality mystery plot that went with it was so bad. Whatever the case, it was obvious this movie was a dig at Microsoft and it's CEO Bill Gates. I have always said it though and I will say it again, no good movie can come from a movie based around a technological item, unless it is based far in the future and made without boundaries. This movie is no exception. I think the movie industry over-estimates how much people like items. Just because people use cell phones all of the time, doesn't mean there needs to be five horror movies about cell phones and text messaging. That's just a silly train of thought. It's like saying people love couches, they sit on them all of the time. What if we made a suspenseful movie about a rouge love seat made out of corduroy with a thirst for blood. Actually, that sounds kind of cool. If you'll excuse me I am going to start writing.

THE VERDICT

    There is a reason you don't remember this movie, because it is silly. The acting is a joke, except for Tim Robbins, who still manages to be completely wasted. Props for shooting in my hometown of Portland, Oregon, but that I'm afraid that is where my praise has to end. I can't endorse watching this movie, it's not horrible or anything, it's just a waste of time.
 
 

RATING: D +

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