Finder’s Fee
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Williams on November 9th, 2003
“…but what I really want to do is direct.” This is a quote from Jeff Probst – otherwise known as the face of everyone’s favorite reality TV show Survivor. “Yikes,” I thought to myself after reading that quote. I mean how talented can the former host of Rock and Roll Jeopardy be? The answer is quite surprising.
Erik Palladino stars as Tepper, who’s on his way back to his apartment with two thoughts – a marriage proposal to his girlfriend and to prepare himself for a weekly poker game with some friends. …n his way home, he comes across a discarded wallet that only has a name and number in it as the only identification. So being a good Samaritan he calls the number and leaves his contact info. During the next few minutes he rechecks the wallet to find a lottery ticket. He quickly learns that this is the winning ticket for a 6 million dollar jackpot. Shortly after making that wild discovery the owner of the ticket, Avery (James Earl Jones) arrives. He tried to get Avery in and out as fast as he can but the NYPD in search of a suspect place the building on lockdown. In addition to this complication, the poker game continues with Tepper trying not to let his poker buddies in on the secret of the lottery ticket.
This movie is very reminiscent of one of my all time thrillers – Suicide Kings. If you haven’t seen it – go and do so. Both movies are built on veteran actors and a well written script with little action (i.e. gunfights, explosions and car chases) but outstanding pacing and tension between the characters.
Video
This anamorphic widescreen presentation of Finder’s Fee (1.78:1) looks great. The image is sharp, but there is some film grain throughout. The colors are adequate, given that the majority of the movie takes place in a dingy apartment.
Audio
The Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is a bit on the quiet side. But given that this is a dialogue driven movie the importance is in hearing the actors speak and in that regard it does the job. There isn’t much to explore in bass and surround effects.
Special Features
There is an audio commentary by writer/director Jeff Probst, story supervisor Jim Gulian, and producer/casting director Katy Wallin. Probst described the process of putting the movie together rather than commenting on the events on screen. It became evident very quickly that this was not an easy film to put together.
A second commentary is provided by composer BC Smith. If you are not an audiophile this likely is not worth your time. He discussed the process of mixing various instruments and the pacing of the music.
Finally, there’s some outtakes incorporated into a small (3 min) featurette in which the actors basically ask Jeff to go on the island. Kind of funny stuff.
Final Thoughts
I was genuinely surprised by this movie. The story and pacing were great and definitely kept my attention. Definitely not one to get voted off the island.
Special Features List
- Two Audio Commentaries
- Featurette
June 16th, 2004 at 11:35 pm
“I was genuinely surprised by this movie.”
Yes, thats because you’re a dumb ass… Quite simply your IQ is just that low that you’re easy to amuse and surprise.
The movie was pure crap, the ending didn’t make any sense at all..
Spoilers – Actually don’t even watch this ridiculous movie..
1) So we’re just supposed to accept the fact that the guy that came for the ticket knows everything about the real Avery, is an expert Dart player, seems to get the amazing poker hands, and oh hell the list of attrocities goes on and on…
Stay away from this one if you have any intelligence whatsoever… if you’re able to completely shut of your brain at will, you’ll find this movie pretty entertaining… but then again you’re probably just as entertained watching paint dry…