'Middle Men' review

Luke Wilson (Credit: Rico Torres/Paramount)

Texas businessman Jack Harris (Luke Wilson) has a knack for solving problems, but he’s about to face his biggest challenge by teaming up with online billing entrepreneurs Wayne (Giovanni Ribisi) and Buck (Gabriel Macht) who figured out a way to make millions as the middle men between Internet porn providers and their customers. Jack sees the seedy industry as a way to provide for his family and, over the objections of his wife (Jacinda Barrett), becomes firmly entrenched in a world of mob ties, Federal investigators and illegal activity. He’s also romantically tempted by a smart, seductive young porn star (Laura Ramsey).

The buzz: Completed in 2008, “Middle Men” hasn’t stoked much anticipation in its crawl toward a minor theatrical release (via the all but defunct specialty label, Paramount Vantage). Loosely based on real events experienced by producer Christopher Mallick during the ‘90s web explosion, the film was directed by George Gallo—screenwriter of the beloved “Midnight Run” and director of far less beloved titles including “Trapped in Paradise” and “Double Take.”

The verdict: A slickly packaged but dumbed down rip-off of superior work from Martin Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson (most notably “Goodfellas” and “Boogie Nights”), the story and style choices in “Middle Men” seem more desperate than the actions of the characters on screen. The rise of online porn is simply the hook for a thoroughly rote mixed-up-with-the-mob drama that overdoes all the obvious clichés: nightclubs, drugs, booze, strippers, piles of money, guns, accidental murder, Rolling Stones on the soundtrack and even a supporting role for James Caan. Just in case the predictable arc is too hard for anyone to follow, a bland but likable Wilson helpfully drops vapid observations (“It’s like I was living two lives worlds apart”; “I’d become addicted to a lifestyle of money, sex and power”) into his unrelenting voiceover narration. For all the film’s shopworn qualities, it moves at an aggressive pace and features some OK supporting performances (Barrett nearly provides depth to her one-note spouse, Macht ably counterbalances a scenery-chewing Ribisi, and Ramsey delivers a captivating turn that would easily be at home in a much better film). Gallo may have been aiming for greatness here. He landed squarely in the middle.

Did you know? Mallick’s original plan was to turn the concept into a HBO series, which sounds like the basis for exactly the kind of “Entourage”-meets-“Sopranos” show we’re probably better off without.

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