Release Date: September 24, 2004
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Toni Collette, Tony Shalhoub, Calista Flockhart, Tim Blake Nelson, Ray Liotta
Directed by: Jeff Nathanson
Written by: Jeff Nathanson
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
MPAA Rating: R (language, some sexual content)
I’m not surprised that a bizarre comedy like The Last Shot was based on a true story. Some things in life are just too unbelievable to make up (unless, of course, you’re Tim Burton).
It was adapted by director Jeff Nathanson from an article by Steve Fishman about an FBI sting that used a film shoot as its cover. In the movie, the agent is Joe Devine (Alec Baldwin), a guy who wants the big cases that lead to the big busts. Unfortunately, he’s stuck working at the FBI’s low-profile Houston division.
But Devine sees his chance when suspects that the mob uses union trucks for film productions to transport illicit goods. All he needs is a script to set up a fake movie production, and then he can blow open a huge New York mob ring.
Enter Steven Schats (Matthew Broderick), who, when he’s not ripping tickets at Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, is desperately shopping around a script he wrote about his dead sister. Devine, already in up to his elbows, gets in over his head when Schats involves his whole hometown; the nominated actress Emily French (Toni Collette) signs on as the lead; and the mob leader Tommy Sanz (Tony Shalhoub) wants to co-produce.
The credit sequence sets the tone for the quirky, offbeat comedy that unfolds throughout the film. Each name appears onscreen in the shape of a moviegoing experience: a ripped ticket, a concession stand item, or the film projector itself. While I’m not saying a credit sequence makes or breaks a film, if done well it can add a lot, and we don’t see this kind of creativity often enough.
The movie itself is really about three separate worlds: the movie business, the FBI, and the mob scene, and the unsuspecting Schats is at the center of all three. Broderick brings his usual subtle, innocent, slightly wary charm to the role, much like he did in Election. He’s the perfect choice to bring out the despair of a struggling filmmaker who turns into a dedicated visionary once his script is given the green light.
Though some of the humor falls flat -- like the jokes involving Schats’s girlfriend, played by Calista Flockhart, or his brother, played by Tim Blake Nelson; or Devine’s brother Jack, played by Ray Liotta -- the movie comes alive in the interactions between Broderick and Baldwin. As they spend time together looking for actors, scouting locations, or having the occasion power lunch, their chemistry grows on you, and you might find yourself wishing it wasn’t all a façade.
Opposite them, Tony Shalhoub is the movie’s main mobster. While not too much time is spent with this part of the story, I suppose Nathanson realized he wasn’t making The Godfather: Part IV. But Shalhoub’s makes the most of his small part, and he ends with a priceless moment where he can’t take his eyes off Emily French’s nude scene while being arrested.
Nathanson may not have had it all together, but he adapted this true story with a uniquely tender sensibility. You didn’t exactly know where the jokes were going to come from, but they were there. With enjoyable dialogue and competent delivery from the actors, The Last Shot proves to be just a few frames more than your average comedy.
-- Michael J. Eiff (mjeiff@hotmail.com)