HotToastyRag In this off-beat thriller, Michael Caine plays a very unhappy man. He's frustrated with his wife, Swoosie Kurtz, bogged down by expenses and problems with his house, and he's desperate to get a promotion at work. When his friend and coworker John McMartin gets sacked and Peter Reigart gets the promotion instead, Michael loses it.I'm a pretty big Michael Caine fan, so this wasn't the best choice of film for me to watch. He plays someone who basically has an undiagnosed nervous breakdown and acts out in psychotic ways. He narrates the film and refers to himself in the third person, hallucinates, and plots the murders of those around him. I prefer to see him in dreamier roles, but if you don't mind him shouting and acting like an evil lunatic, you'll be in a better position to appreciate the movie.A Shock to the System is a very dark comedy. As dark comedies aren't my preferred genre, I didn't really end up liking the film. In the spirit of fairness, I put myself in the shoes of someone who does like this genre, and for those with a more sardonic sense of humor, it's probably very entertaining. There's a side love story with Elizabeth McGovern, lots of tension when Michael Caine is plotting his schemes, and twisted humor running throughout. Those who feel out of control of their lives will probably really like this flick.DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not your friend. There are strobing lights and active camera movements that might make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

Scott LeBrun Michael Caine is absolutely terrific in this combination dark comedy / corporate satire. He plays Graham Marshall, veteran executive at the Gibb Corporation. He's married to a shrewish woman named Leslie (Swoosie Kurtz), who regularly puts him down. Supposedly in line for a big promotion at work, he's obliged to watch as a slimy younger co-worker, Bob (Peter Riegert), gets the gig instead. When he accidentally causes the death of a panhandler, and nobody seemingly witnesses the act, he feels emboldened. Now his plan is to get back at the people who have done him wrong.Unfortunately, "A Shock to the System" is never quite as satisfying as this viewer would have liked. It needed a little more bite; as it is, director Jan Egleson ("Billy in the Lowlands") has a rather light touch. Still, it's not without interest as a comment on how old pros like Graham, and his friend George (John McMartin), find their livelihood threatened by the young turks in the corporate world. Where it succeeds the most is when it follows the activities of our merry antagonist, who's come too far and worked too hard to want to back down. One good thing: it wraps up in a tidy 88 minutes, making its points and telling its story in a fairly succinct manner.Ultimately, the movie is just okay, but it's made a must see by the dynamic performance of Mr. Caine. It's great fun to hear him use profanities and otherwise lose his *beep*, and one can relate to him enough that you do sympathize with him and are amused with his newfound attitude. Elizabeth McGovern is lovely and adorable as the colleague who realizes that she's attracted to him. The rest of the supporting cast is all first-rate: Riegert, Kurtz, Will Patton as an investigating detective, Jenny Wright as a secretary, Barbara Baxley as Kurtz' mother, and Haviland Morris as Bob's ravishing lady friend. Familiar faces in character roles include Kent Broadhurst, Zach Grenier, David Schramm, Mike Starr, and Samuel L. Jackson.If you're a Caine fan and want to check out some of the lesser known items on his resume, this one does hold your attention for its duration.Six out of 10.

Ali Ilyas Micheal Caine is one of my favorite actor, and its very seldom when he don't do the justice to the role he plays. This movie is no exception. Anyone who had or is been working for corporate business can understand the dirty politics and immoral working ethics, and the depiction of this dilemma in this movie was immaculately pictured. Well the movie goes smoothly, but the only thing which boggles mind is the easy escape provided to Micheal Caine. But overall idea depicts how these corporate firms sucks the all humanly characteristics out and left you with selfish desires. But i don't know why through out the movie all my sympathies were with Caine!

bob_meg I'd love to know if the part of Graham, the droll-voiced, rage-repressed Brit, confined to a suburban Connecticut prison and a Madison Avenue job he secretly loathes, was written especially for Michael Caine. It really could have been, and not because he does such a fine job with it.No, "A Shock To The System" is really a much more British-type thriller than an American one. It is extremely dark, remorseless in its cold-hearted execution of moral-less morals and it laughs in our face at every confounding expectation.Graham is all about pent-up anger and we love him for that. When the promotion he has been banking on for several years falls through the cracks to land in the lap of a sycophantic, smarmy Yuppie (played smoothly by the effortless Peter Riegert, looking very young here), he decides he's had enough, and concocts a fiendish scheme that's so brilliant and manipulative, it just might work.Another reason why this film strikes me as so un-American is that it is really all about the suspense, not the pay-offs. It keeps a deliciously taut tension throughout that's so well executed, you really forget there are few really jarring moments (save one, that makes the entire picture worth watching).And not just Caine is well cast. Liz McGovern has her long-overdue leading-lady performance and bags it effortlessly. Similar strong support to Swoosie Kurtz who plays Graham's ditsy but demanding wife with such bubble-headed ease that its difficult to hate her; Jenny Wright, who always brings a nicely fresh ingénue quality to whatever role she plays; Will Patton, whose stern, no-BS attitude makes him a formidable adversary to Graham's misdeeds; but most of all to John McMartin, whose portrait of a virtuous but increasingly apathetic executive will ring bells in many people's heads and hearts.The ending is a bit of a cheat, but you'll live. The movie as a whole will resonate as clearly as Gary Chang's wonderfully pensive score, rendered flawlessly by the Turtle Island String Quartet.