Middle Men (2009)

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Excellent but underrated film

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

JUST LIKE THE SOCIAL NETWORK except it had more nudity and was far less factual. Okay, maybe it wasn't like Social Network, other than the fact it is more popular, although no one admits to using it. This is "inspired" by a true story which means all the dialogue and most of the characters are fictional. Two genius drug user live together (Giovanni Ribisi plays an excellent paranoid on coke) and can't get any decent porn on the Internet so they decide to create their own web site and invent a program that allows people to pay on line with a credit card. They opt to get new material so they enlist the help of the Russian mafia. Luke Wilson plays a businessman and family man whose narration frequents the movie. He turns their web site into an Internet sensation by allowing access to multiple sites through their billing system.There is nudity and sex, but nothing that is over the top erotic. Was that Jesse Jane as one of those girls in the background?The film is front loaded with comedy. The movie starts to drag near the end, in fact whenever James Caan was on the screen, the movie went south. Don't get me wrong, Caan played a good part, it was just boring when he was on screen as compared to the action/comedy/drama going on during the rest of the film.

Really liked the somewhat true story of two idiots who stumble on an early Internet cash cow through online porn payment processing. Luke Wilson does a great job as a man who tries to hold onto his moral code while working in adult entertainment. Giovanni Ribisi is utterly plausible as a substance abuser. Lots of other interesting cameos add to some great dark humor. Trying to figure out what's true versus exaggerated is tricky. The Russian mafia play a role that may or may not be true. The FBI play a part in the move that checks out. Thelead character seems a little good to be the at times. Probably because it's an autobiographical story. Still, self praise aside the story. Very enter ting nd ups along at a healthy pace. If you like dark humor and are interested in the early days of the web this is one to watch.Well worth watching.

A movie about family values, about vices and how people succumb to them, a movie about money and power and the fact that there's never "enough". A beautifully crafted piece of work that keeps you in pretty much throughout. Performance is great from Luke Wilson and the story goes seamless.One little, probably needless, piece of action that I didn't quite understand why it was there, is the confusion at the end with Russian mafia taking the wrong "thing", but it's probably just me and it's not that bad anyway.Definitely deserves more than the actual 6.7 it's got. Also recommend "Limitless" and "Fracture".

I was skeptical about this film. I know it says it got a theatrical release, but it must've been on only a couple screens.If you are thinking about watching this movie, do it. It's wonderful. I gave it 8 out of 10. There was a little too much Voice Over narration, but this was a great story, well acted and well directed. Luke Wilson's never been a great thespian, but here, he's very good. Giovanni Ribisi overacts, but here it works. Gabriel Macht, who I have never liked was great. And Laura Ramsey was gorgeous and great. I could have done without Jacinda Barrett, but hey, that might just be me.In a day and age where crap gets 3000 screens (I'm talking to you Season of the witch, drive angry, hall pass, the roommate), it's a shame this was not released wide and could not find an audience.To the filmmakers... very well done. To the distributer: you could have done better.