This film would be worth watching just for Kevin Spacey's portrayal of the ultimate boss from hell, Buddy Ackerman, but there's also much more than that going on. Ostensibly a damning look at the inner workings of the film business, Swimming with Sharks just as accurately depicts any highly dysfunctional employer/employee/associate relationships, and that's a lot of them.

But even more than that, there is a lot of mostly unstated philosophical material underpinning much of the film, some of it literal and some more metaphorical, such as the ending. One of the key lines of dialogue towards this end is Ackerman's, "If you're not a rebel by 21, you've got no heart, and if you haven't gone establishment by 30, you've got no brain".

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.

Billed as a comedy, "Swimming With Sharks" rarely came close to that description. It's really a biting satire on corporate greed and climbing the industry ladder literally on the backs (and bodies) of others. I never had a boss from hell of Buddy Ackerman's dimensions, but probably came pretty close. I recall a closed door argument between a company vice-president and one of his subordinate directors, and the underling was no guy/Guy like Frank Whaley's character. You could hear the two yelling at each other across the office before the thing settled down. Fortunately it was so early in the morning most of the staff wasn't in to work yet, but it was quite the show for anyone there.

Kevin Spacey excels in an early starring role as the sadistic Buddy Ackerman. The thing is however, he exhibits a disconcerting aura of warmth and humanity at times that runs counter to his normal behavior. His is not the role model they talk about in business school, in fact it was almost refreshing to hear his diatribe about having to work one's way up instead of expecting to start at the top with an expectation of entitlement.

You know, for some odd reason I had the impression that Guy was going to shoot Dawn (Michelle Forbes) instead of Buddy, seeing as how he had already endured a year of Buddy's vengeful and abusive behavior. It comes as a shock to most viewers, but if you're going to take a film like this to it's limits, it only makes sense that Guy was going to ensure his career path by going the extra mile. It's called having a job to kill for.

Guy (Frank Whaley) has finally had it with his boss Buddy Ackerman (Kevin Spacey),and he takes him hostage with a gun. The movie flashes back to the start when Guy was a young naive assistant to the abusive Hollywood producer boss. Dawn Lockard (Michelle Forbes) is a producer who befriends and gets romantically involved with Guy.

This is a tour de force performance from Kevin Spacey. Writer/director George Huang bases the character on his former boss Joel Silver. It's his directorial debut and is a lower budget indie. Both problems are obvious but they're lucky to have the great performances. Whaley and Forbes do good jobs. It's like a brilliant play and has the insight of realism.