Review of Prime Gig, The

Introduction

Pendelton Wise (Vince Vaughn) is a decent enough guy who just happens to have a talent for talking people into buying something that they don`t need. He is a telemarketer and conman and very good at his job. However, he is strictly small time - being happy as a big fish in a small pond.

However, his gig selling shady travel packages collapses and he is shafted by his bosses out of his commission (poetic justice you may say). Just as that gig goes south, he is headhunted by Kelly Grant (Ed Harris), the Daddy of all conmen (although he would deny it). Kelly claims to have a legitimate opportunity extracting gold from a mine in Arizona but he needs $1,000,000 to get started. To get this seed capital, he is prepared to sell shares in his good fortune to selected members of the public. This is where Pendelton (Penny) and a bunch of equally hot salesmen come in. They`ll get commission for selling the shares.

Penny is no dope and doesn`t trust Kelly an inch. He negotiates a cash commission deal and does his best to satisfy that the opportunity at least has a chance of being legit. He is soon Kelly`s top salesman and making a small fortune in commission which he dutifully collect in cash every day and lodges in his bank account.

He`s on top of his game and life is good. He has landed a Prime Gig. Life soon gets even better as Kelly`s gorgeous girlfriend, Caitlin (Julia Ormond), falls for Penny - Kelly apparently has been treating her badly. However, having an affair with your boss`s girlfriend is not necessarily the best career move you can make.

Video

The video is presented in an Anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer and it looks fine. It isn`t quite up there with the best but it is more than adequate. Colour is rich and the image is sharp and detailed.

Visually it is little more than a series of talking heads shots but, that said, every shot is composed with invention and style and the movie ends up looking better than it needed to.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is rather good - rich and detailed. It doesn`t have the depth and weight of a full DD 5.1 but it doesn`t really need it. Dialogue comes across true and clear and ambience is well presented.

The music is a mix of jazzy motifs and some classical pieces and is well judged and well reproduced.

Features

Aside from a perfunctory trailer, nothing. I suggest that you don`t watch it because it gives hints to some important plot points.

Conclusion

The Prime Gig is reminiscent of Glengarry Glen Ross, with salesmen under pressure to perform - trying to close the deal with their customers while keeping an eye on the boss who might be screwing them. This similarity is heightened by the presence of Ed Harris, who was excellent in GGR.

He is equally excellent here as the charismatic Kelly Grant, pretending to be a man who is pretending to be sincere and believable. The rest of the cast, from lead Vaughn to the small parts like Amber Benson`s Bat Girl, are equally excellent but Harris steals every scene he appears in. After Harris, Vaughn deserves credit for his conflicted performance of a decent man who just happens to be very good at something dubious. His scenes on the phone closing deals are magnetic and compulsive.

Ormond is decent enough as Caitlin but doesn`t have much to do. Her best scene is at the start of the movie where she tests Penny`s mettle by pretending to be a corrupt DA but her character, while quite pivotal, isn`t fully explored.

Also giving performances worth savouring are George Wendt playing a cynical loser and Buffy`s Amber Benson playing against type as a hard saleswoman (not a stutter in sight).

This is a character driven movie and the characterisation is superb. William Wheeler`s script is excellent.

The plot is equally good, sucking you into the movie and Penny`s life in the same way as Penny would suck you into a deal. And it suckers you in exactly the same way. You don`t expect there to be a happy ending but you are unprepared for the denouement when it arrives. You can`t believe it. Now, it shouldn`t be a surprise. It has been telegraphed from early on but you don`t see it. You don`t want to see it. You are happy to take events at face value and not scratch at the facade. The movie is the perfect conman - it doesn`t lie; it just helps you believe what you wanted to believe.

The movie is excellent and highly recommended but it is somewhat let down by a basic disk. Check it out though, you won`t be disappointed. Trust me.