Themes: Office Politics, Mind Games, Boss from Hell
Main Cast: Bill Pullman, Aaron Stanford, Agnes Bruckner, Sandra Oh, Dylan Baker
Release Year: 2003
Country: US
Run Time: 92 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
The amoral world of a handful of Wall Street businessmen is delineated in this black comedy written by Lemony Snicket creator Daniel Handler. Rick takes as its central character a mid-level manager (Bill Pullman) working in a nameless corporation for a boss, Duke (Aaron Stanford), who's nearly half his age. Duke and Rick are constantly one-upping each other around the office; compounding their contentious relationship is the fact that Duke is pursuing Rick's daughter, Eve (Agnes Bruckner), a teenager who frequents Internet sex-chat rooms. Rick thinks he has found the solution to his work problems in Buck (Dylan Baker), an old college buddy who's become a paid hitman; for a fee, he'll take care of anyone who comes between Rick and his climb up the corporate ladder. But when a jilted job interviewee (Sandra Oh) puts a hex on Rick, it seems his good fortune may come to an end. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
Review
Rick starts out as an entertainingly scabrous anti-capitalist satire, along the same lines as Mary Harron's American Psycho but played more for laughs. The opening scenes -- involving Rick (Bill Pullman), his callow, sex-obsessed young boss, Duke (Aaron Stanford), a disastrous job interview, and the subsequent encounter with Michelle (Sandra Oh), the humiliated prospective employee -- are a bitterly funny and trenchant critique of white-male corporate culture, and the satire only sharpens when Rick encounters his old schoolmate, Buck (the ever reliable Dylan Baker), who offers Rick his services while pointedly avoiding stating what it is he does. But after a promising beginning, the plot kicks in, and the film begins to unravel. Screenwriter Daniel Handler, of Lemony Snicket fame, has a sharp ear for corporate logo-speak, and cinematographer Lisa Rinzler captures the gleaming grandiosity of the milieu. Pullman does an admirable job with tricky material, as does the very watchable Agnes Bruckner as Rick's daughter, Eve. Stanford's role is more cartoonish, and he doesn't quite pull it off. Oh and Baker shine in smaller, keenly written roles; however, the main problem is tone. After the mean-spirited opening, it's nearly impossible to make Rick sympathetic, but the filmmakers try, giving him an unconvincing past family tragedy and playing up his devotion to Eve. In hewing to the general outline of Rigoletto's plot, the film sacrifices suspension of disbelief, as the baroque twists of the opera don't jibe with the contemporary corporate setting. While flawed, Rick is an admirable effort that offers, at least for a while, a stinging respite from the typical mushy Hollywood-style comedy. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
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