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Derek Malcolm's rating
Slater's wimp is a winner
By
Derek Malcolm
6 Dec 2007
The quiet man in Frank Capello's defiantly serious comedy is Christian Slater's balding, bespectacled, mustachioed mouse of an office worker who not only contemplates shooting himself but thinks about taking some of the executive bullies along with him.
But before he can do this, another clerk goes on a killing spree in the office and, in defending himself, the mouse becomes an accidental hero. He even saves the life of the pretty girl (Elisha Cuthbert) who has never previously even looked at him.
Now paralysed, the girl, who has been having it off with the boss (William H Macy) becomes fond of him. He's the only one who cares for her. But being an admired hero is just as difficult for this terminally diffident man as being the office mouse; even the talking fish he regularly feeds can't help him.
This rather strange little film shows Slater to be an actor of some standing who is ready, willing and able to transcend his star image. Some people, Capello seems to say, just can't win, largely because they won't believe anyone can love or even admire them.
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Reader views (1)
Loved this movie. Still talking about it a week after seeing it with friends. Never knew Slater could be this good. Great flick all around.
- John Sacks, New York, USA, 08/12/2007 11:11
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