...it's a billing service That's what our Main Middleman keeps telling himself. But, of course it is porn, billions of dollars worth. Fast-paced, with a rogue's gallery of out-there characters, particularly Rabisi, of course, in his element, I love how everyone keeps turning on each other, then realigning, then turning again, it never stops! Based on Real Life! Better than fiction, a real fun ride
Middle Men
2009
Action / Comedy / Crime / Drama
Middle Men
2009
Action / Comedy / Crime / Drama
Keywords: murderdrugscorruptionmoneytexas
Plot summary
Wayne Beering and Buck Dolby are drugged-out geniuses with lots of ideas but they can never seem to get their act together. But when they come up with the idea to create a porn site--and charge for it (the first-ever site to do so),their idea may be too lucrative for them to handle. Straight-laced business man Jack Harris is brought in to team up with them and turn their profitable idea into a legit business. Making money in the pornography industry is pretty easy, but staying true to yourself when surrounded by that much wealth, luxury, sex, crime, and temptation is much harder.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
NOT PORNOGRAPHY...
Great story idea but bland execution
It's 1988 Houston. Jack Harris (Luke Wilson) proposes to Diana (Jacinda Barrett) living in a suburban live. In L.A., Wayne Beering (Giovanni Ribisi) and Buck Dolby (Gabriel Macht) are struggling to figure out how to make it. They're both drug addicts losing their day jobs. In 1997, Jack gets lured to L.A. to fix up a club. Meanwhile Buck and Wayne start a porn site developing a payment system. They hook up with Russian gangster Nikita Sokoloff (Rade Serbedzija). They grow beyond their capabilities and move out to Vegas. Mobster Jerry Haggerty (James Caan) calls in Jack to help the guys to fix their business. As Jack turns their business into a success, Jack falls for porn actress Audrey Dawns (Laura Ramsey).
This seems to be a crazy story that is built to be brought to the bad screen. It's 'The Social Network' with gangsters, drugs and porn. The movie probably follows the wrong guy. It's not as compelling as it ought to be. That may be due to the producer who wants to make a movie about himself. Ribisi is the perfect druggie screwup. Luke Wilson would be a great straight guy Buck in a comedic duo. They should be the starring lead characters in the movie. Jack is basically the businessman. He's really the side character being pushed up as the lead. Gabriel Macht would be a perfect fit as shown in his later TV role in Suits. Director George Gallo takes this rich material and makes a middling movie.
Porn to run
A Goodfella's for the internet porn generation but here the incessant narration becomes irritating.
Jack Harris (Luke Wilson) is a fixer and a family man. When others want to cap knees, he looks for better non violent solutions.
In the late 1990s, Jack goes to LA and comes across two porn crazed but clever drug addicts who are making inroads in paid internet porn.
Wayne Beering (Giovanni Ribisi) and Buck Dolby (Gabriel Macht) have brains but bizarrely dumb with it. They do make millions in developing a porn site payment system where they take a cut in the early days of the net. They also get mixed up with Russian gangsters and a crooked mob lawyer.
Jack makes a lot of money but has lost his family and is in over his head. He certainly needs to get out of a fix.
Despite the presence of actors such as James Caan, it never amounts to being more than a solidly acting but middling film. It would had been better as a deranged farcical black comedy without the narration.