Main Cast: Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Toni Collette, Tony Shalhoub, Calista Flockhart, Ray Liotta
Release Year: 2004
Country: US
Run Time: 93 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Directed by Jeff Nathanson, The Last Shot follows what happens when, like so many aspiring entertainers, the FBI gets caught up in the grandeur of showbiz. When Agent Joe Devine (Alec Baldwin) is given a key role in an elaborate scheme to take down the infamous mob boss John Gotti, he gladly accepts the assignment and goes undercover as a Hollywood producer. Before long, he has assembled an unwitting cast, including aspiring director Steven Schatz (Matthew Broderick), who agrees to direct for Devine without realizing the entire production is merely a front for the investigation. As Agent Devine and several of his cohorts from the bureau begin enjoying their lives as self-appointed industry players, however, justice takes a backseat as the would-be law-enforcement operatives put all of the passion into turning what began as a sham movie project into a true Hollywood contender. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
Review
It's ironic that a film called The Last Shot would have third-act problems, but that's one of the few things preventing Jeff Nathanson's film from standing side-by-side with the top Hollywood satires out there. Alec Baldwin's FBI agent-cum-film-producer recalls Chili Palmer in Get Shorty, the absurd on-set improvisations (shooting a movie called "Arizona" in Rhode Island) are shades of State and Main, and the orchestrated deception even suggests Wag the Dog. But when it abruptly adheres to the fact that it's based on a true story, The Last Shot robs the viewer of the more sublime conclusion an invented story might have had. The entire point is that it can only end as it does, but Nathanson has crafted such a likeable group of delusional hopefuls that we want to see more of what happens to them. The film is probably closest in spirit to State and Main, which also features Baldwin, but what differs The Last Shot from the misanthropic hyperbole of David Mamet's film is that the audience roots for these characters to succeed. Especially effective in this regard is Matthew Broderick as the hapless screenwriter/director, whose earnestness carries him above the fray, in spite of his own ethical compromises. Nathanson doesn't always resist the urge to go big -- Calista Flockhart's shtick, for example, is that she holds small dogs hostage during temper tantrums, and washed-up diva Toni Collette provides a urine sample at the dinner table. But the fact that these events represent rare concessions to commonness indicates how sharp most of this satire is. Criminally under-marketed, The Last Shot couldn't even crack one million dollars at the box office, ironically making it as stillborn as the sham film it depicts. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Seth Reed - Art Director, Dan Lewk - Associate Producer, Gary Levy - Associate Producer, Deborah Aquila - Casting, Tricia Wood - Casting, Janet Roston - Choreography, Ellen Erwin - Co-producer, Gloria Gresham - Costume Designer, Noga Isackson - First Assistant Director, Jeff Nathanson - Director, David Rosenbloom - Editor, Stan Wlodkowski - Executive Producer, Todd Lieberman - Executive Producer, Rolfe Kent - Composer (Music Score), Nora Felder - Musical Direction/Supervision, Suzanne Rodier - Makeup, William Arnold - Production Designer, John Lindley - Cinematographer, Larry Brezner - Producer, David Hoberman - Producer, Lynn Christopher - Set Designer, Theodore H. Sharps - Set Designer, Richard van Dyke - Sound/Sound Designer, Ben R. Scott - Stunts Coordinator, Steve Fishman - Screen Story, Jeff Nathanson - Screenwriter, Emma Rotundi - Second Unit Camera, Bill Kent - Visual Effects Supervisor, Danny Owen - Special Effects Coordinator, Tom Bellfort - Supervising Sound Editor, Pacific Title & Art Studio - Visual Effects, Natalie Pope - Set Decorator
FBI agent Joe Devine (Alec Baldwin) has been assigned to cook up an elaborate scheme to take down infamous mob boss John Gotti. He assumes the role of a Hollywood producer and tells all the right lies to enlist a stooge to help execute his sting. He finds unsuspecting wannabe director Steven Schats (Matthew Broderick), who'd do just about everything to get the chance to direct a feature. Schats falls hook, line, and sinker for the pitch, but what Devine doesn't tell Schats is that the movie will never be made. Everything goes according to plan — until Devine and his fellow agents start enjoying their new lives as Hollywood players a bit too much.
Background
The plot of The Last Shot is loosely based on the true story of an FBI sting operation code-named Dramex. The sting operation was run by FBI agent Garland Schweickhardt, who recruited aspiring screenwriters Dan Lewk and Gary Levy to participate unwittingly in a sting operation aimed at ensnaring mobsters and Teamsters union officials in a bribery scheme. Under the pretext of producing a movie, the FBI planned to catch people taking bribes in exchanging for promising not to make trouble when filmmakers used non-union truck drivers and non-union crew members. Shooting actually occurred in several cities including New Orleans and Las Vegas, while in other major cities, evidence was obtained without using an actual crew made up of FBI personnel. As the investigation progressed from city to city, sealed indictments were obtained and only unsealed when the operation was concluded. Many actual events happened during the shooting that were more hilarious than the movie portrays. At one point, the crew was stranded in the desert between LA and Las Vegas by a broken down Rolls Royce. Arriving at the location in Las Vegas, they found a genuine crew already there shooting Nasty Boys (Which, ironically, was about undercover police officers). The grip truck ran into an elderly lady's car the first day of shooting in New Orleans and the crew wound up paying off the lady with hundreds peeled from a roll of bills. The operation eventually led to indictments against five individuals, several of whom were convicted. The movie itself was shut down before serious filming started. Lewk and Levy have yet to make a full-length feature film.[1]
