The Man (2005 film)
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| File:The Man Poster.jpg
Theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Les Mayfield |
| Produced by | Kent Alterman Toby Emmerich Robert N. Fried |
| Written by | Jim Piddock Margaret Oberman Stephen Carpenter |
| Starring | Samuel L. Jackson Eugene Levy Miguel Ferrer |
| Music by | John Murphy |
| Cinematography | Adam Kane |
| Edited by | Peter Fandetti Jeffrey Wolf |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
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Release dates
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Running time
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83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 million |
| Box office | $10.3 million |
The Man is a 2005 American comedy crime film starring Eugene Levy, Samuel L. Jackson, and Miguel Ferrer.
The Man is directed by Les Mayfield and produced by Rob Fried from a screenplay by Jim Piddock, Margaret Oberman and Stephen Carpenter, based on the story by Jim Piddock and Margaret Oberman. New Line Cinema released The Man in Canada (through Alliance Atlantis) and the United States on September 9, 2005.
Filming took place in Toronto, Hamilton and Oakville, Ontario, Canada.[1]
Plot
Andy Fiddler (Eugene Levy) is preparing a speech that he is going to give to a dental convention in Detroit. He works for a dental supply company, and lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Meanwhile, in Detroit, a secure (ATF) weapons room has been robbed of assault rifles, handguns and ammunition. An ATF agent was killed and (Internal Affairs) agent Peters (Miguel Ferrer) suspects the dead agent and his partner Agent Derrick Vann (Samuel L. Jackson) were in on the robbery. After a visit to his informant Booty (Anthony Mackie) (who is later gunned down), Vann,attempting to clear his name, sets up a buy. He is to go to a diner and be reading a USA Today. Unfortunately, Andy is also in the diner, and he has a copy of USA Today. A menacing Englishman (Luke Goss) sits next to Andy and hands him a paper bag with "his taste" in it then leaves. He wants "Turk" (the pseudonym that Vann used when setting up the buy) to drop $20,000 dollars in a certain trash can. Vann reveals that he has the money, and needs Fiddler to drop it.
Vann gets another call asking him what happened. He tells them that there were complications. Joey says he will call back in about an hour. Meanwhile, Andy tries to get away, only to have Vann graze him with a gunshot to the rear.
Andy is taken in for questioning due to an outstanding warrant on his criminal record in which he purchased a stolen rug in Turkey without knowing that it was stolen, but Vann gets him out of prison to assist him in his investigation as the public contact.
When back in the car, Andy complains that he is hungry. Vann takes him to a burger joint.
Fidler suggests that they go to Vann's daughter's dance recital, which they do.
They leave and call Joey. They arrange for a meeting which they attend with no backup. Upon meeting Joey and his cronies, Joey asks who Vann is. Andy tells him that Vann will do anything that is told. Vann admits this, and tells them that he is betraying the service to make some money. Joey is convinced, and Vann takes Andy to his hotel, and they say goodbye.
They tell him that Vann was lying to both him and them, and that he is actually trying to buy the guns and killed Booty, Cortez, and Vann's partner himself. They need him to wear a wire and get a confession out of Vann.
Meanwhile, back at ATF offices, Vann is suspended, and his boss (Susie Essman) tells him that Andy was setting him up. Andy, now wired, enters Vann's office and says they need to talk. Vann starts driving to the exchange with Andy in tow. Recognizing Andy acting agitated, Vann asks him straight out if he is wired. Andy admits he is.
They enter the barn where the exchange is going to go down. Joey is skeptical and pulls a gun on Vann.
He blames it on Andy, and the last shot of the film is of a protesting Andy being led away for a cavity search.
Cast
- Samuel L. Jackson as Agent Derrick Vann
- Eugene Levy as Andy Fidler
- Luke Goss as Joey Trent/Kane
- Miguel Ferrer as Agent Peters
- Susie Essman as Lt. Rita Carbone
- Anthony Mackie as Booty
- Gigi Rice as Susan
- Rachael Crawford as Dara Vann
- Philip Akin as Second I.A. Agent
- Lindsay Ames as Waitress
- Randy Butcher as Precinct Cop
- Michael Cameron as IA driver
- Kevin Rushton as Thug
- Joe Sacco as Rookie Cop
- Horatio Sanz as Santos
- Nestor Serrano as Manuel "Manny" Cortez
- Andrew Stelmack as Conventioneer
- Beatriz Yuste as Nun
Box office
In its opening weekend, The Man earned $4,065,014 in 2,040 theaters. Altogether, the film was a box office bomb, only earning $8,330,720 in the United States and Canada and $12,382,362 worldwide. The DVD was released on January 10, 2006. It has been discontinued.[2]
Reception
The Man had received negative reviews from critics, many of whom shared the opinion that the plot was pointless and its jokes rehashed. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes currently reports that the film holds a score of 11% based on 100 reviews.[3] Meanwhile, on Metacritic, the film received a metascore of 33 out of 100 based on 27 reviews, carrying an indication of "generally unfavorable reviews", while the user score from the website's audience carries a 5.9 out of 10, meaning "mixed or average reviews".[4] The film received a Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actor (Eugene Levy).
