SIFF Sighting: PRICE CHECK (Comedy, USA)

I've always been a fan of Parker Posey and the types of films in which she stars, but her character in this drama-that-wants-to-be-a-comedy has to be an exception.

Pete (Eric Mabius) is an uptight, seemingly unhappy marketing expert that had to take a job with a grocery chain because the industry he really wants to be a part of (music) is failing.

Posey plays Susan, an obnoxious executive brought into Pete's regional office to save the day. She arrives guns blazing and at first we can't tell if she's calculated or just crazy. The further we travel through the story, we realize she is both.

Susan seems to crave an idyllic family life like the one Pete has, so she ingratiates herself into his—befriending his wife and showing up at their son's school parties. She rewards Pete with a generous raise and heaps of ego-boosting attention, which leads him to make some poor decisions in his personal life.

The problem is, the film leaves no one to root for. Susan is nuts; Pete is boring and apparently easily corrupted; his wife is money-hungry and the other folks in the office are borderline cartoonish.

It's a shame this misses the mark, as the premise was a good one.

PRICE CHECK will screen at the 38th Annual Seattle International Film Festival. For tickets, visit the SIFF website.

Cinebanter #35 - BROKEN ENGLISH

The MP3 file of Cinebanter 35 is available here.

In this episode, Michael and Tassoula commemorate the first anniversary of their show by taping their review of BROKEN ENGLISH in the same studio. They also share their Last Five®, and MichaelVox joins Average Matt at his home studio for a joint discussion of RATATOUILLE. Tassoula and MichaelVox close out the episode with some show notes (and a lot of outtakes). The breakdown is as follows:

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:32 BROKEN ENGLISH Discussion
• Break
• 23:02 To Sum It Up
• Break
• 23:34 The Last Five®
• Break
• 35:08 Average Matt (with MichaelVox)
• 50:14 Tassoula's RATATOUILLE rebuttal
• 51:50 Show Notes
• 53:40 Credits and (several) Outtakes

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Michael's Last Five in this episode were: APOCALYPTO, PARIS, JE'TAIME, SICKO, RATATOUILLE and BLACK SNAKE MOAN. Tassoula's Last Five in this episode were: GOODFELLAS, THE EDUCATION OF SHELBY KNOX, SICKO, SHERRYBABY and FORREST GUMP.

Special thanks to Brad Daane and Mark Cummins for providing the music in this episode.

Reviews and/or notes of every movie Michael sees can be found at his MichaelVox website.

Tassoula has reviews, musings and movie-related product links at Tassoula's Movie Review Blog.

Feedback is always welcome - you may leave comments here or e-mail the hosts at cinebanter@gmail.com.

We hope you enjoy the show!