Film Review: The Last Shot (2004) C+

Date Viewed: 6/8/06
Venue: DVD

The Last Shot has a lot of good, funny ideas and a great A-list cast, so why has no one heard of this flick? Despite some favorable notes from critics (Ebert & Roeper especially), the film was given a limited theatrical run in major cities only and has since been forgotten by the movie-public despite starring Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Toni Collette, Ray Liotta, Tony Shalhoub, and Calista Flockhart. Well, the problem is that for every funny bit that made it into the film, there’s at least one un-funny bit to go with it.

Writer/director Jeff Nathanson’s comedy (based on real events!) centers on a FBI sting operation targeting mobsters behind the Teamsters Union. Since the Teamsters work with the movie industry, the FBI taps agent Joe Devine (Baldwin) to set up a fake film production. For authenticity, he buys a struggling LA writer/director Steven Schats’ (Broderick) sappy script and offers the unwitting dreamer the director’s chair. Who would say no? The joke’s on the director, however, as the Feds force drastic changes of location (Rhode Island instead of Arizona) to serve their mob-busting needs.

The humor works when it’s about Hollywood. Riffs on struggling actors, celebrity pets, mobsters wanting to finance movies, etc. are well written and genuinely funny despite not being wholly original.

Character-driven humor doesn’t fare so well. Things feel uneven, some characters seem to disappear without any resolution, and others are under-or-overwritten. Steven Schats has a rather large subplot involving his brother that is completely extraneous, and worse, not that funny. That said, the performances, Broderick especially, are very good. It just feels like a re-write is in order.

The Last Shot is a moderately funny movie that simply missteps. Too often the film will introduce a fertile comedic angle, only to abandon it prematurely in favor of something far less funny. It’s a shame because this had potential.