The Last Shot

Plot synopsis:
FBI agent Joe Devine (Alec Baldwin) has been assigned to come up with an elaborate scheme to take down infamous mob boss John Gotti. He assumes the role of a Hollywood producer and tells all the right lies to enlist a stooge to help execute his sting. He finds unsuspecting wannabe screenwriter/director Steven Schats (Matthew Broderick), who'd do just about everything to get the chance to direct a feature. Schats falls for the pitch, but what Devine doesn't tell Schats is that the movie will never be made.
Though Schats' screenplay is titled Arizona, and the main character is supposed to euthanize herself in a Hopi cave at the end of the movie, he is so desperate to make the film that Devine convinces him to film it in Rhode Island. Devine's target there is Tommy Sanz, who muscles in on the production. Devine records Sanz accepting a bribe for the Teamsters' approval of the production. Instead of ending the investigation at that point as the FBI expects, Devine plows ahead with the film production, because he has fallen in love with the movie business.
Devine's mania leads him to pitch a three picture deal to his FBI superiors. He is convinced that he can ensnare more mobsters with a similar scheme, while also producing actual films. The FBI agrees to the idea, and Devine throws himself into production full tilt. Just as filming begins, the FBI arrests Gotti and puts an end to the production, against Devine's wishes. The film jumps forward two years to the premiere of a movie based on the sting operation. Schats is working as a manager at a movie theater. Devine visits him and apologizes. He reveals that he has been working on a screenplay, and Schats gets excited about the pitch.

Tags: satire

Review:
But it isn't until the first 20 or so minutes into the film that the significance of the movie can be appreciated.Based on an apparently true news article, THE LAST SHOT takes a pot shot at not only Hollywood, but also organized crime, production magnates, the FBI, and little people with big dreams lost in the elusive utopia of fame.The plot is well outlined on these pages.
Suffice it to say that the FBI sends Joe Devine (Alec Baldwin) to Hollywood to pose as a producer to lure the underground crime lord Tommy Sanz (Tony Shalhoub) to surface and be caught.
Devine needs a script as he discovers from the gross Fanny Nash (Joan Cusack at her hilarious best) and gradually encounters Steven Schats (Matthew Broderick) who with his pathetic brother Marshall Paris (Tim Blake Nelson) has written an unmarketable, non-salable script called 'Arizona'.
Devine grabs on to the project, making Schats the director (his dream come true) and casts the film with has-been actress with box office draw Emily French (Toni Collette who looks terrific and adds yet another priceless cameo to her brilliant repertoire) and Valerie Weston (Calista Flockhart) who just happens to be Schats' squeeze.The process of film-making and the infectious delirium of Hollywood affects everyone in this film - even the FBI and especially Devine who softens into a man who wants to provide the 'littleman' Schats with his dream.
I suppose I went to this movie for the actors: enigmatic Alec Baldwim, charming Matthew Broderick, turned-sardonic Tony Shalhoub, mafia man Ray Liotta (who resembles a "cappo di tutti cappo" even as the director of the FBI) and thin Calista Flockhart.
In the end I came to like it because of what it actually is: a frank story about goodness and dreams and not "another" cover up story for a gang heist.So you've got undercover agent Joe (Baldwin) who is so dedicated to his job, that he lets someone cut his finger off, just in order to get a longer sentence.
Joe and Steven get to know each other when the detective plans to frame a certain low-ranker of the notorious Gotti family (in this particular case, Tommy Sanz, played by Shalhoub) and decides to pose as a film producer in order to fulfill his assignment.
The Last Shot is a quirky, enjoyable art-house comedy based on the true story of an FBI agent, Garland Schweickhardt, who was in charge of an elaborate operation named "Dramex" to nab mob influences in the film business.The Schweickhardt character in the film is named Joe Devine (Alec Baldwin).
After a brief character establishing scene and an amazing title/opening credits sequence (featuring movie theater objects) that's one of the most creative and cute ones I've seen yet, Devine is transferred to the Providence, Rhode Island FBI office and learns of Tommy Sanz' (Tony Shalhoub) illegal mob dealings with the local teamsters.
So Devine, who knows next to nothing about the film business, poses as a producer and heads to Hollywood.He gets a crash course in the industry from insider Fanny Nash (Joan Cusack in a hilarious extended cameo), and he begins his search for a script and director.
The bulk of The Last Shot hinges on a few different conflicts, including the FBI's reservations about Devine's plan, which keeps snowballing and turning into a more far reaching lie.Although it's not every day that the FBI sets up a bogus film production, director and writer Jeff Nathanson uses his debut film as a helmer to comment on various levels of the typical craziness of the movie business.
Much of this material is hilarious, and viewers do not need to have any intimacy with the film industry to "get it", or to get that there is probably a lot more truth to these scenes than is usually admitted.The cast is excellent, including Baldwin and Broderick.
A lot of sizable stars take roles with far less screen time than normal--including Shalhoub, Flockhart and Ray Liotta, but this is a well-written script that turned out to be well directed, so it was a good move for them.At the same time that Nathanson enables a somewhat sarcastic, cynical view of the film-making process, there is a parallel plot featuring Devine that emphasizes a much more romantic view of the lure of the business.
On the one level, there is the FBI investigation on racketeers and on the other, he brings a man who yearns to direct movies into the picture by offering him a phony deal in which supposedly a film is going to be produced, but only as a cover up to trap a mafioso in Rhode Island.The idea of recruiting Steven Schats, an employee of the Graunman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood to direct his film "Arizona", is something that Joe Devine, an FBI man, dreams to get the results he wants.
The film, which makes no sense at all, undergoes a change when Joe tells Steven the production will be shot in Providence, in order to take advantage of a deal with that state's cooperation with the movie industry.
Joan Cusack makes the most of her character and a cameo by Ray Liotta round up the familiar faces in the movie."The Last Shot" is a delightful movie to watch as it's clear the director, Jeff Nathanson, clearly understands what make these people tick..
The Last Shot is a supposedly true story about the FBI, undercover on a fake film set, known only to the few agents involved, trying to lure in an unsuspecting mobster in order to arrest him.
While this was not a bad movie, I was still a bit disappointed.Director Steven Schats (Matthew Broderick) and fake producer Joe Wells (Alec Baldwin) are making a movie called Arizona, which Schats and his brother happened to write.
Along the way, Wells, AKA FBI Agent Joe Devine is talking the FBI into going further and further into actually shooting the movie until it seems that the FBI is actually interested in offering Devine a 3 picture deal.Meanwhile, the casting is beginning and actually getting the attention of worthwhile movie stars, most notably Emily French (Toni Collette).
In the Last Shot, the story begins Baldwin, an FBI agent trying to make a name for himself, voluntarily allowing the bad guys to cut of one of his fingers so that he can charge the bad guys with more serious crimes.The plot progresses with Baldwin setting up a façade of making a movie to trap other Mafia types.
It then progresses to a point where Baldwin and his superiors at the FBI are making what appears to be a real deal for a "three picture deal" and negotiating over marketing rights.That progression, together with some wonderful side trips,cameos by Joan Cusack and Buck Henry, caused something that is rarely heard in multiplex theaters with relatively small audiences-outright loud laughter and even a bit of applause as the movie ended.This movie is not Gone with the Wind or Citizen Kane.
This is based on a true story.In that story Alec Baldwin plays FBI agent Joe Devine who uses movie director-screenwriter Steven Schats (Matthew Broderick) to nail the mob.He claims to be a movie producer and promises to make a movie of Steven's script Arizona.Jeff Nathanson's The Last Shot from 2004 is some great stuff.It's funny with some pretty dark comedy.The cast is awesome.Broderick and Baldwin make a great couple.Other stars in the movie include Toni Collette, Tony Shalhoub, Calista Flockhart, Buck Henry, Ray Liotta, Joan Cusack and so on.Also the late great Pat Morita makes a visit in the movie.This is a fantastic movie about the movie factory called Hollywood and how things are done there.Steven Schats has a dream and so do many others who go there.Some of them get to fulfill their dreams, some of them just have to hang in there..
The movie stars Alec Baldwin, Matthew Broderick, Calista Flockhart, Tony Shaloub, Toni Collete, Ray Liotta, and Joan Cusack.
Baldwin is Joe Devine, an FBI agent who thinks the way to capture a big mob boss is to deal with the Teamsters by pretending to be producing a film in Rhode Island.
Of course, he first has to get Schatz to change the location and a few other things.Before you know it, the fake filmmaking becomes real as Devine gets into producing and convinces the FBI that they can capture even more mobsters by actually doing the film.
Everyone is excellent, but Toni Collette as insane movie star Emily French is a standout, as is Cusack as a Hollywood agent and Tony Shalhoub as the badly scarred mobster they're after, who says, "My wife set fire to me while I was asleep.
Six months later, our marriage fell apart." Parts of this film were laugh out loud funny, a highlight being Collette's audition as well as the opening scene of the film, an FBI sting, and Cusack's talk to the people who are going to work on the film.Some people will not like "The Last Shot" at all, but it's really worth seeing for the fun it pokes at the film business, for the performances, and some great quotes..
These behind-the-scenes types of films work because everyone wants to be in the movies and lots of funny stories get generated.
If that film had been directed like The Last Shot, even with the exact same cast and script, it would have been considerably less funny and would have undoubtedly flopped, like The Last Shot is inevitably going to.That's not to say The Last Shot won't make a good rental or that people won't enjoy watching it on HBO, but it could and should have been much funnier and isn't really worth a trip to the theater--that is, of course, providing that you even get the chance to skip it in the theater.
Baldwin plays an FBI agent that has gone undercover as a Hollywood producer in order to take down the mob.
Baldwin loses himself in his cover and begins to work in earnest with Broderick to make the film actually happen.The humor is clever and the film pokes fun at Hollywood and the movie industry in general.
Joan Cusack has a wonderful part as an overstressed Hollywood producer that the FBI calls in for advice on how to make a film that they don't actually intend to make.
Meet Matthew Broderick, he plays Steven Schats, the poor schmuck who actually thinks Joe wants to make his movie."The Last Shot" is actually very funny.
Calista Flockhart plays Broderick's actress/girlfriend, and her character is similar to Ally McBeal, but she's funnier.Unfortunately the story doesn't go far after it's pretty good premise, but it is a short and funny ride.
It's a movie-savvy group of people, y'understand.Even if you're not a big fan of Alec Baldwin or Matthew Broderick, it's worth seeing for the supporting cast.
And for anyone who is a screenwriter (like me!), wants to be a screenwriter, or thinks they know what it means to be a screenwriter...the quick montage of Baldwin's character hearing pitches on the street from everyone he sees is so brilliant and funny and true, it's a lesson in humility we could all use from time to time.I think the story is hampered by the idea that Baldwin's character, FBI man-undercover-as-Hollywood producer, would choose a script set in the desert of Arizona (even titled Arizona) when he needs to shoot in Rhode Island so he can set up the local mob boss there.
Sometimes what's true is too stupid to actually work in a movie.Speaking of a script, Jeff Nathanson, who has done some decent work in the past, most notably for Steven Spielberg, probably could have rewritten this a bit more, but does a very good job as a first time director.
An FBI agent goes undercover as a film producer to capture a mob boss who has influence in movie business.
He meets an aspiring writer-director to produce his fake movie but ultimately falls in love with the art of film-making.Quite interesting plot.
The over-the-top approach to every moment became predictable, and the timing of the lines could have been crisper, especially in the scenes between Alec Baldwin and Matthew Broderick.There was potentially a good film idea here.
Yes, the script and many of the performances (notably Calista Flockhart and an unbilled Joan Cusack) poke fun at Hollywood, but what gets you glued to this film is that you really root for Matthew Broderick's character.
Perhaps for lack of material, or not enough of a story to go on, the resulting comedy is at best a mediocre one with the potential to be much better.Props, however, to Toni Collette (always an excellent actress) for playing the bizarre, self-indulgent Emily French, and Joan Cusak (wasted here in a minor role) as the neurotic producer and the agent's mentor..
I rented this movie to watch on a plane because of the fantastic cast - Baldwin, Broderick, Shalhoub, Collette, Liotta, and on and on.
Alec Baldwin, Matthew Broderick, Calista Flockhart, Toni Collette, Tony Shalhoub, Ray Liotta, and Joan Cusak were all at the top of their game.
Alec Baldwin is good as always as is Matthew Broderick but Ray Liotta is completely and utterly wasted (he's only in the movie for about 5 minutes) and if this was the movie that Calista Flockhart thought could be her comeback then she was sadly mistaken because although every scene she's in is an utter delight, her absence affects the movie at times.
THE LAST SHOT (2004) ** Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Tony Shalhoub, Toni Collette, Calista Flockhart, James Rebhorn, Ray Liotta, Tim Blake Nelson, Buck Henry, Ian Gomez, W.
Earl Brown, (Cameos as themselves: Pat Morita and Russell Means) Anemic satire of Hollywood meets Washington based on a real life account of how the feds set up a sting operation to ensnare the Mafia by using the front of a film to be produced here with Baldwin as a down-on-his luck FBI op and Broderick the hapless schmuck as the patsy director wanna be.
"The Last Shot" is a mediocre comedy B-flick which tells of an FBI agent (Baldwin) who poses as a film producer and sets up a film shoot as a cover for a mob sting operation.
"The Last Shot" offers a good cast of familiar faces but plays out like the kind of low level flick which you might want to Tivo/DVR from cable and save for some time killing entertainment.
In the movie, Baldwin(Joe) is a FBI agent who plays the role of a movie producer in order to try to get racketeering charges against mobsters.
That part was funny.Joe gets caught up in the film and really wants to make the movie.
The last shot is about a detective Joe Devine (Alec Baldwin) that is investigating a mobster, Tommy Sanz (Tony Shalhoub), so he make a fake movie to lure him.I don't know if the actors that are in this movie don't read the script or something because it sucks.
I rent it for Ray Liotta that appears very little in the movie, Alec Baldwin do a great job and Matthew Broderick well no so much.Very disappointing, with this great actors, this movie could be good.
When you've never heard of a film with stars (ok, mostly TV stars) like Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Toni Colletti, Tony Shaloub, Calista Flockart and Ray Liotta, you have to figure that it had to be a minor piece - possibly a "straight to TV or DVD" release (seven months after a limited U.S. release, that is exactly what happened to THE LAST SHOT) and standards are appropriately reduced.Catching it on TV, it was easy to get caught up in the fun of the expert cast giving their all to a borderline farce based on the actual events surrounding the FBI getting involved (without telling the rest of the cast, crew or creative staff) in making a fake movie as a sting to capture a mafia big.
You can get an idea of the sort of potential they had (bearing in mind the then well known death of actor Vic Morrow under the blades of a falling helicopter) by reading the comment on these boards dated 16 June 2006 entitled "behind the scenes story." For most of the film's length it's easy to become pleasantly engrossed in the amusing character stories - especially Broderick's writer/director and Baldwin's increasingly obsessed FBI agent/producer.
The only let down - and the film makers are even able to give it a surprisingly touching coda - is when Ray Liotta's FBI man tells Baldwin that the goal of the mission has been achieved and the "picture" is being shut down - JUST as they are getting set up to make the first and, as it turns out, last shot of the supposed movie (hence the title).
Baldwin, an FBI agent, hooks an unknowing Broderick into making a movie in Providence, Rhode Island, as a sting operation to nail John Gotti.
Back in the 1980s a real FBI agent convinced his bosses to set up a sting operation around a fake movie production.
The DVD has an interesting extra, where the real agent from the 1980s meets up with and talks with the guys he set up to do the movie, and it is cool to see them reminiscing about it.Matthew Broderick plays Steven Schats with his patented comic style, very appropriate for this role.
Alec Baldwin plays Joe Devine, the FBI agent who thinks up the idea for the sting, and who roams Hollywood for a suitable script and director.
It's not hard either to convince or to lead poor Steven, who thinks he might finally get his chance, to film his Arizona-set movie in Providence.
Funny Shalhoub is cast as a serious mobster, Broderick's character never got any chance to evolve, Flockhart who plays Stevens hysterical girlfriend might have done well with more space, and I think Liotta appears in just two scenes.