The Last Shot (2004)

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 | Sting Operation | FBI Agent

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: The movie is set in the mid 80's. When Agent Devine is sitting on a bench asking people for script ideas, a green VW New Beetle passes by.

Quotes:

Joe Devine: Steven, my name isn't Diamond. It's Wells.
Steven Schats: Wells? I thought it was Diamond.
Joe Devine: No. Joe Wells. That's my name.
Steven Schats: But you said it was Diamond.
Joe Devine: No, it's Wells. It's always been Wells. It's a common mistake.

Movie Connections:

References 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Soundtrack:

Beethoven Rhumba

Casting Was Excellent But Ultimately Disappointing.

The Last Shot is a supposedly true story about the FBI, undercover on a fake film set, known only to the few agents involved, trying to lure in an unsuspecting mobster in order to arrest him. With the actors and actresses involved, I expected more. A lot more, actually. While this was not a bad movie, I was still a bit disappointed.

Director Steven Schats (Matthew Broderick) and fake producer Joe Wells (Alec Baldwin) are making a movie called Arizona, which Schats and his brother happened to write. Along the way, Wells, AKA FBI Agent Joe Devine is talking the FBI into going further and further into actually shooting the movie until it seems that the FBI is actually interested in offering Devine a 3 picture deal.

Meanwhile, the casting is beginning and actually getting the attention of worthwhile movie stars, most notably Emily French (Toni Collette). Toni is visually stunning in this movie.

This movie was not too hard to watch, but still, I thought the talent could have made something much better. I miss the charismatic Broderick of Ferris Beuller. Most of the humor seemed to be of low value shock attempts, with the constant cursing. I am not against it, but in this case, it just seemed more childish and cheap than funny. Overall, not too bad but there are plenty of better movies to choose from. 6.5/10