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Antitrust (2001) PDF Print E-mail

 In some weird twisted sense, I am led to believe that getting your film released in January in the same time span as the wide releases of "Traffic," "Finding Forrester," and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is akin to getting picked last in the pickup hoops game but still being on an A squad. The heavyweights know who they are, and maybe if you could just tag along you'd get to pick up the scraps that they leave. So it is with this wonderfully inept movie, "Antitrust."

AntitrustWhat's to like about "Antitrust?" Well, it has a very clever name. And I have a friend who works for the advertising company that Sony uses to release its films and had the luxury of working on this motor scooter of movies. By motor scooter I mean that, sure, it might be fun to ride for a while, but you really don't want anyone to see you with it. And finally, well, I guess it's watchable, I suppose. It's a delightful comedy that has no intentional purpose of being funny. You'll also probably go see it if you dig Ryan Phillippe. He's the main geek Milo, who is apparently a geek because he says he is and wears semi-dorky Armani glasses. Just so you don't confuse him with Reese Witherspoon's suave husband or anything like that...

What's not to like/what do I find amusing about this funny non-comedy? Well, let's look at the premise, for starters. It's a blatant rip-off of some other company that I'm sure nobody has ever heard of, but let us not get tied down with the obvious. This is a film aimed to appeal to the techie generation that us Gen-Xers seem to be affiliated with and all the geek-dom that it encompasses. We're dealing with programmers here, folks. Bottom line- programmers do not look like they belong on the cover of Teen People magazine. I know. I've seen them. I work with them. Pantene products are not in their medicine cabinets. So watching the likes of Mr. "Way of the" Phillippe cavort around with Rachel Leigh Cook (and incidentally, "she IS all that" but what's up with the hair? Is that their best attempt to make her look like a programmer geek?) and Claire Forlani rings something slightly less believable than, oh, say making a TV show about high schoolers that star 30 year olds...And by the way, since I'm having such a hard time staying on track here, what is UP with Miss Forlani? She looks like she's in a constant state of depression and has either just finished or is on the verge of crying her eyes out. Anyhoo...

What I'm trying to say that there is no credibility to this thing. But that doesn't necessarily make it unwatchable. Well, it does, but let us not get bogged down with semantics. You just have to allow yourself the humor of complete implausibility. And of course be prepared for Milo's stunning revelation that the main evil person in the movie, Tim "Nuke Laloosh" Robbins (who incidentally packs all of the villainy of Mr. Belding from "Saved by the Bell"), is actually a ruthless tycoon who needs to be told that "in the real world, when you kill people, they die" but still loves his Pringles. The revelation and sudden clarity that Milo has is about as subtle as a lead pipe being jammed down your ear canal.

And just for kicks and giggles, make sure to watch out for the part where Milo remembers watching "Speed" with his programming buddies and in a sooper-tense scene one-up's Keanu, who he is apparently taking acting lessons from. He and Freddie Prinze Jr., anyway...

So there's "Antitrust" in a nutshell. There is some value there, but I'd liken it to the same kind of value you get from using a Q-tip. It can be a guilty pleasure, but don't linger on it too long or you'll realize what kind of crap is sitting inside your head.

Dogburt gives 2 stars2 stars


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mXcomment 1.0.5 © 2007-2008 - visualclinic.fr
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Written by Dogburt   
Saturday, 20 January 2001
 
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