Product: Startup.Com (2001)
Rating: 1.0
There Is No One To Like Here
The biggest problem with this movie is that after five minutes of viewing, you pretty much weren't rooting for anyone to succeed. I mean, out of the gazillions of dot coms with exactly the same story to tell as govworks.com (a couple of moderately-bright and over-ambitious young guys with a lukewarm idea hit up their family and friends up for money, get a round of financing, and fall on their faces as soon as it's clear that the whole thing was rushed into and had a flimsy foundation), it is a shame that this movie followed the travels of the two ... in charge. Furthermore, this documentary somehow took footage from a spot on the front line of one of the most bombastic, hectic, and electrifying times in this nation's economy, and distilled it into a drab and boring story. Trust me, this felt every bit like a documentary (you know, the bad kind- the kind which every good documentary clearly distances itself from).Kaleil Isaza Tuzman was OK but had too big of an ego (he'd make a better cheerleader than businessman, use of corporate buzzwords and catchphrases notwithstanding), Tom Herman was a creep with a wet-blanket liberal personality, and the prevailing quality that comes to mind for everyone involved in the project is "spoiled." Plus, the movie's editing job is such that it never really conveys that these guys had to work too hard to achieve any measure of success; they should have been thrilled to make it as far as they did, given the flimsiness of their game plan, their lack of preparedness for key interviews and opportunities, and the grave errors still in existence at the time they launched. This movie was a barely-watchable dot bomb.