The Last Shot (2004)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Jeff Nathanson

Writers (WGA):

Steve Fishman (article)
Jeff Nathanson (written by)

Release Date:

5 November 2004 (Brazil)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

The true story of the greatest movie never made.

Plot:

A movie director-screenwriter finds a man to finance his latest project but soon discovers that the producer is actually an undercover FBI agent working on a mob sting operation.

Plot Keywords:

FBI | Undercover | Movie Producer | FBI Agent | Sting Operation

US TV Schedule:

Tue. Nov. 10	4:30 PM	COMEDY
Wed. Nov. 11	10:00 AM	COMEDY

Cast

Matthew Broderick	...	Steven Schats
Alec Baldwin	...	Joe Devine
Toni Collette	...	Emily French
Tony Shalhoub	...	Tommy Sanz
Calista Flockhart	...	Valerie Weston
Tim Blake Nelson	...	Marshal Paris
Buck Henry	...	Lonnie Bosco
Ray Liotta	...	Jack Devine
Ian Gomez	...	Agent Nance
Troy Winbush	...	Agent Ray Dawson
Thomas McCarthy	...	Agent Pike (as Tom McCarthy)
W. Earl Brown	...	Willie Gratzo
Evan Jones	...	Troy Haines
Glenn Morshower	...	Agent McCaffrey
James Rebhorn	...	Abe White

Also Known As:

Providence (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some sexual content.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Australia:M (DVD rating) | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:14 | USA:R (certificate #40240) | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Grauman's Chinese Theater - 6925 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Morra, Brezner, Steinberg and Tenenbaum Entertainment (MBST)

Trivia:

In the "burro casting" sequence neither of the animals being considered are burros. They are both mules - the sterile offspring of a burro (donkey) and a horse.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Though the film is set in 1985, the United Airlines plane shown at the Rhode Island airport is painted in a color scheme that was not used until the mid-1990s.

Quotes:

Valerie Weston: I'm gonna go home, Steven. That's right. I'm serious. Because of you, I'm gonna get gangbanged, Steven. Gangbanged in Woodland Hills.
Steven Schats: A lot of great actresses started out in porn.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs "Bonanza" (1959)

Soundtrack:

I Can See Clearly Now

Proof that a Seed of Truth is Stranger/Funnier than Fiction

THE LAST SHOT is best viewed with a bit of info to let the patient viewer understand what is coming. The opening titles are clever, dealing with movie paraphernalia that serve as matrices for the stars and production staff names and should give a sense of what is to come. But it isn't until the first 20 or so minutes into the film that the significance of the movie can be appreciated.

Based on an apparently true news article, THE LAST SHOT takes a pot shot at not only Hollywood, but also organized crime, production magnates, the FBI, and little people with big dreams lost in the elusive utopia of fame.The plot is well outlined on these pages. Suffice it to say that the FBI sends Joe Devine (Alec Baldwin) to Hollywood to pose as a producer to lure the underground crime lord Tommy Sanz (Tony Shalhoub) to surface and be caught. Devine needs a script as he discovers from the gross Fanny Nash (Joan Cusack at her hilarious best) and gradually encounters Steven Schats (Matthew Broderick) who with his pathetic brother Marshall Paris (Tim Blake Nelson) has written an unmarketable, non-salable script called 'Arizona'. Devine grabs on to the project, making Schats the director (his dream come true) and casts the film with has-been actress with box office draw Emily French (Toni Collette who looks terrific and adds yet another priceless cameo to her brilliant repertoire) and Valerie Weston (Calista Flockhart) who just happens to be Schats' squeeze.

The process of film-making and the infectious delirium of Hollywood affects everyone in this film - even the FBI and especially Devine who softens into a man who wants to provide the 'littleman' Schats with his dream. The humor is broad, WAY over the top, crude, and slapstick and in so many ways this movie mimics all of the intangible oddities that make Hollywood what it is. The performances by Baldwin, Broderick, Cusack, Flockhart - and, well, all of the inserted cameos - are excellent. Once you get the premise of this film it moves from being inane to being a really terrific parody with some sensitive metaphors. Grady Harp