Best Seller (1987)

hyped garbage

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Star Power aside, there's not much here: two capable leads and a script that fails both of them. The relationship between the two characters killed this for me. James Woods spends most of the movie convincing block-headed Brian Dennehy that the conspiracy is real, and that quarrel gets old fast. There's some intrigue in the third act and a tense(ish) standoff, but also plenty of logical gaps in the story. And that's disappointing.

A good cast, James Woods in particular, and an intriguing premise were the main reasons for seeing 'Best Seller'. Seeing it a few days ago, 'Best Seller' turned out to be a good film with many great things with a few elements that bring it down somewhat.Woods himself is the film's best asset. Everything about him in 'Best Seller' is just mesmerising to watch, he epitomises cool, charisma and intensity. Brian Dennehy is dependably solid as rocks, a great performance that is more than up to Woods' level. Another reason why 'Best Seller' works as well as it does is the chemistry between Dennehy and Woods, which is electric. Paul Shenar has somewhat of a standard role but he brings an intimidating unscrupulousness that makes him effective in it. Victoria Tennant is good.'Best Seller' has a stylish and gritty visual look that makes it aesthetically pleasing. Larry Cohen takes a break from the quirky horror that he is better known for and shows that he is just as deft in thriller with a witty, intelligent and sharply observed script. John Flynn directs with the right amount of tension, keeping things at a brisk pace, not losing the effectiveness of the visual style and is pretty nifty with the action. The action is not tame, pretty hard-edged actually, neither is it gratuitous.For all 'Best Seller's' excellent things, there are short-comings. The music score is tacky and is stylistically at odds with the film. For a film that did such a good job with its atmosphere, 'Best Seller' was deserving of a much better ending than the rushed and too pat and safe one here.While a vast majority of the cast are fine, there is one exception...that exception is a rather annoying Alison Balson.Overall, a good film that sells well. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Since the loss of his wife to cancer, cop-turned-author Dennis Meechum has been struggling to even get passed a chapter of any new project. So when the shadowy Cleve approaches him with an offer, he at least listens. Cleve suggests that he has been a hit-man for years on behalf of a large corporation and wants to use the book to hit back at his former employers. Dennis is convinced after an attempt on Cleve's life and begins to spend time with Cleve to interview him and get material for the book, however the relationship is never an easy one.Kudos to the film for trying to have a talky character driven script at its core but sadly it never really works. The central character dynamic is interesting but never really convincing because I didn't feel that the characters had sufficient drawn between them to counter the repulsion (and using Dennis' debts was a lazy device in my opinion). This leaves the following relationship on a level that is never much better than "solid" although as such I did still find it engaging. Not as interesting as I would have liked though, which did somewhat take away from the tension at the end of the film because I didn't get the feeling that there was a head of steam built up. The action sections also undermine it; they are not that well done but nor do they fit into the narrative that well and they just seem to be another force holding the film from being smarter than it was.The central performances don't really help much either, although they are both good enough to hold the interest. Woods occasionally suggests he will go deeper into his character but mostly he is happy with hit-man cool with a touch of twisted humanity in him. As per normal Dennehy gives a solid rock of a performance but never does anything that remarkable or interesting with it. Small supporting roles for Tennant and Shenar don't really do much and the film is carried in the safe hands of the lead pair.Overall then a solid enough film that is distracting. Occasionally it seems to have the chance to do more but then it never really does, settling instead just for an average approach that is OK but nothing that memorable.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable B movie that came and went quickly from the big screen back in the late 80's. I happened to catch it then--and now own it in my movie collection. Woods plays Cleve, a brilliant and perhaps psychotic former hit-man, who wants Dennis, a cop turned author (Brian Dennehy), to write his story. He also wants to expose his former employers. Cleve ensures Dennis that the book will be a "Best Seller" and begins taking Dennis on a lurid tour of his former hits.Like most films, this doesn't transfer quite as well onto the small screen, but it is still well worth the viewing; (plus you get to hear James Woods warble a tune in French). Actually, Woods is way cool in this film, and delivers some of his most compelling work ever. Brian Dennehy pulls off the tough task of making the writer character equally interesting and compelling. An unlikely buddy film that has plenty of action, makes you care, and quite simply--works.