willwoodmill Swimming with Sharks is the 1994 cult comedy about a young, naive, starry-eyed, kid called Guy, (played by Frank Whaley.) who dreams of making it big in the world of Hollywood producers. But before he can get to the top of the studio he will first half to "pay his dues," and that means being the lowly assistant to cruel egotistical producer Buddy Ackerman. (played by Kevin Spacey.) And Guy quickly learns that it's going to be the most miserable part of his life, because Buddy is incredibly demanding, constantly changing his mind, and show's no mercy even for the slightest mistakes. But as Guy begins to adjust to his new lifestyle, he begins to fall in love with another producer, Dawn Lockard. (played by Michelle Forbes.) And as their relationship develops, Guy slowly becomes more and more frustrated with Buddy until he finally decides to get revenge.Swimming with Sharks fits right in with other 90s films like Office Space, Fight Club, and Falling Down. Films about how working class males were not satisfied with were life had got them and resort to desperate measures to change it. Swimming with Sharks takes a very comedic approach to this subject, but at the same time a very dark one. Kevin Spacey nails the performance of Buddy Ackerman perfectly, but then again it's Kevin Spacey, what would you expect? I can't remember the last time I saw a character that was as vicious cruel and heartless as Buddy Ackerman. This gives every scene in the film an underlying tension because you never know when Buddy will lose his temper next. A lot of Buddy's dialogue is great as well. The scene were he compares Guy to other objects in the office might be the best in the whole film. Just because of the clever writing and vicious performance.Unfortunately towards the end of the film, they try to get you to sympathize with Buddy, and while the idea for it makes sense, (Buddy had to pay his dues as well, and now as he says in the film, "it's my turn to be selfish.") it really comes off as incredibly forced. I get that Buddy was supposed to be a good guy that was turned bad by the Hollywood system, but the way the execute is so out of the blue and melodramatic, that when they first started doing it, I thought it was a joke. Another problem I have with the film is that the other two leads seem so weak when compared with Kevin Spacey, don't get me wrong neither of them or bad, and Frank Whaley is able to pull of his character fairly well, and has some good line delivery. But on a whole the other leads just aren't anywhere close to Kevin Spacey, which makes them seem a lot worse than they actually are. The film also "jumps the shark," (pun intended) at the end, it goes way over the top and its themes get kind of muddled in all the pointless melodrama, but luckily it's able to bring them back for the very final scene of the film.But overall I would say Swimming with Sharks is a pretty solid film, it has its weaker parts, but none of them are bad enough to ruin the film. Swimming with Sharks has become a cult comedy, in the same way Office Space has become one. Both films resonated with audiences at the time, and for a good reason. Swimming with Sharks is a film that portrays greed and the harsh truths of the world in a funny way. Which is something that you don't see a lot of in films. 6.0/10

Gordon-11 This film tells the story of a young Hollywood intern who had to endure his nasty and abusive boss, in order to fulfill his dreams of working I the film industry.I find Kevin Spacey's character quite hilarious, because he is just like what a nasty boss is. Of course he reminds me of the hugely successful character called Miranda Priestley, Spacey is not as memorable as Streep because this film is ultimately about the intern, not Spacey.The story telling is not linear, and for a long time I thought the scenes of the intern in the home of the boss was a fantasy sequence. The surprise ending makes me realise that in fact these scenes are not fantasy but reality. And the ending again reminds me of Anne Hathaway's character in "The Devil Wears Prada" - what would you do to climb the ladder?

classicsoncall Billed as a comedy, "Swimming With Sharks" rarely came close to that description. It's really a biting satire on corporate greed and climbing the industry ladder literally on the backs (and bodies) of others. I never had a boss from hell of Buddy Ackerman's dimensions, but probably came pretty close. I recall a closed door argument between a company vice-president and one of his subordinate directors, and the underling was no guy/Guy like Frank Whaley's character. You could hear the two yelling at each other across the office before the thing settled down. Fortunately it was so early in the morning most of the staff wasn't in to work yet, but it was quite the show for anyone there.Kevin Spacey excels in an early starring role as the sadistic Buddy Ackerman. The thing is however, he exhibits a disconcerting aura of warmth and humanity at times that runs counter to his normal behavior. His is not the role model they talk about in business school, in fact it was almost refreshing to hear his diatribe about having to work one's way up instead of expecting to start at the top with an expectation of entitlement.You know, for some odd reason I had the impression that Guy was going to shoot Dawn (Michelle Forbes) instead of Buddy, seeing as how he had already endured a year of Buddy's vengeful and abusive behavior. It comes as a shock to most viewers, but if you're going to take a film like this to it's limits, it only makes sense that Guy was going to ensure his career path by going the extra mile. It's called having a job to kill for.

SnoopyStyle Guy (Frank Whaley) has finally had it with his boss Buddy Ackerman (Kevin Spacey), and he takes him hostage with a gun. The movie flashes back to the start when Guy was a young naive assistant to the abusive Hollywood producer boss. Dawn Lockard (Michelle Forbes) is a producer who befriends and gets romantically involved with Guy.This is a tour de force performance from Kevin Spacey. Writer/director George Huang bases the character on his former boss Joel Silver. It's his directorial debut and is a lower budget indie. Both problems are obvious but they're lucky to have the great performances. Whaley and Forbes do good jobs. It's like a brilliant play and has the insight of realism.