The Deal (2005)

Really Surprised!

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The United States is in an oil crunch. So when the banking firm that "Tom Hanson" (Christian Slater) works for gets an opportunity to make a deal with an oil firm that might have the inside track on some foreign oil, the firm is only too happy to jump at the chance. But there are risks involved and Tom doesn't know the oil business that well. Add insider politics, the Russian mafia along with corporate greed and you have the basics of this movie. As usual, Christian Slater performs quite well. So too does Selma Blair as his environmentalist girlfriend, "Abbey Gallagher". Unfortunately, I didn't care too much for the performance of Angie Harmon as the mysterious "Anna" mostly because her Russian accent seemed too artificial. One minute she's speaking in perfect English and the next her accent is off the charts. Likewise, I thought the ending was too quick and convenient. But in any case, I still enjoyed the movie and believe it's worth a look for those who like films of this nature.

Poorly done TV-grade story about two very important global issues, one manipulated by Wall Street scoundrels for criminal gain(really?), and the other was nearly overlooked in this rambling and disjointed story that was lowered to moronic and absurd due to poor storytelling and editing, and some really terrible acting by Angie Harmon. Selma Blair was not much better, but Harmon was over the top obvious as a Russian mafia operative, and made her part a leering, grinning joke in a story that should hinge on personal control, secrecy, duplicity and treachery. In her role as the main squeeze of Christian Slater's Wall Street mover and shaker, Blair was allowed facial expressions and body language of a high school freshman girl in a role of a grown woman. Nobody noticed that a bit more shown maturity might be better for her professional role, on Wall Street? Hello! The interesting and compelling part of this type of story should be its devious mystery, secrecy and who-done-it quality, and not in exposing every aspect of "the deal" to the viewer as it unfolded. What a totally dumb film made for dummies and an insult to the talented male lead Christian Slater, who made a big mistake taking a role in this TV level junk. He did well, but was overwhelmed by others' poor acting, and bad casting and overall filmmaking. Only thing good about it was the really ominous and sinister soundtrack. Very effective, so something actually was done right.But, showing again a lack of creativity, the film's title "The Deal" has been used as a film title about a million times before, thus is another perfect example of this filmmaker's total lack of knowing and using just about anything that would make a good movie. A lot of money was lost on this dog that cost way more than it made. And, if he didn't gain any satisfaction from it, and I am sure he didn't in this loser, at least Slater got paid for his good work. He was the only one who deserved it.

The storyline of "The Deal" has a good premise – the USA officially in war against the Arabs exclusively because of the oil and without any subterfuge. An American Oil Corporation requests the support of a credible Wall Street company to support a merging with a Russian Oil Company and get the supply of the necessary oil. An ambitious executive from Harvard is in charge of the deal and pressed by the Russians, the board of his company and his love for a colleague.Unfortunately, the very confused screenplay is simply awful. It is almost impossible to understand the beginning of the story so confused it is. Later, the plot is disclosed and finally the viewer can understand the situation, with lots of betrayals and jealousy. There are three favorable reviews of this movie, and two of them are written by users with only one review issued in IMDb apparently to make a fake promotion of this film. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): "Contrato de Risco" ("Risk Contract")

I was afraid that it was going to be bad when the "maguffin" as Hitchcock called it was tacitly revealed as an oil company executive was having a conscience attack over something...and it was not a science fiction film! I couldn't say for sure if the problem was the lack of a real story or the misdirection of an outstanding cast, but this movie is slow, muddled and doesn't deliver at the end of the film. Christian Slater and Selm Blair are two of my favorites and it really is painful to watch them trying to give this doa project a bit of life. When I say that this is "Much Worse Than Awful", I mean it! Talent and budget can't go anywhere without a real story. Stay away from this one.