Lies & Illusions
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
The film begins with self-help author Wes Wilson who has recently come out with his first best selling book. At the after-party, he meets up with an attractive woman named Samantha. They flirt, and he proposes publicly. He introduces her to his agent, who tries to talk Wes into writing a sequel. Wes dismisses the agent and takes Samantha to his car to leave the party early. They are attacked in the parking lot, and Samantha is knocked out and kidnapped.
Time passes slowly for Wes, who is haunted by his inability to save her. At a book signing, however, he meets Nicole, who says she is a reporter. He goes to her house for an interview, and they bond. A few more months pass and Wes and Nicole become a happy couple.
Suddenly a mysterious man named Isaac who Wes had met before at the book signing, shows up and demands to know where some diamonds are. Wes runs away, and Isaac's main henchman Boone and another give chase. Wes is kidnapped as a result along with Nicole and Isaac orders him to go to some bank and empty the contents of a safety deposit box which could be the diamonds themselves. Wes finds a briefcase and then he and Nicole are released. To Isaac's surprise, there is only a stuffed toy in the briefcase and he resumes his hunt for the diamonds.
Eventually, Wes gets back to his apartment, only to find Samantha there to his shock and surprise. She apologizes and tells Wes she stole the diamonds from Isaac and that Isaac won't stop until they are dead and he has the diamonds but Wes is still heartbroken that she would betray him like that as he felt guilty for not being able to help her and believed that she was dead for so long. Samantha also tells him that Nicole wants the diamonds as well and tells him to meet her under a bridge. Just then, one of Isaac's henchmen shows up, and Samantha kills him after much effort. Wes is frightened, and leaves.
Isaac eventually kidnaps Wes and, using him as a lure, finds Samantha, who tells him where the diamonds are. Wes gets the diamonds, but decides to run away. Again, Isaac and his henchmen give chase, and a shootout ensues in which Boone is shot and likely killed. Isaac shoots Wes in the arm, and calmly takes the diamonds. Samantha escapes while Nicole helps Wes.
Isaac is shown admiring the diamonds on his jet, when Samantha comes out of the cockpit, showing that she has shot the pilot. She shoots Isaac twice, and jumps out of the jet. The plane crashes and Isaac dies as a result.
Later, Wes is talking to his agent, Martin Rivera about writing another book on his adventures, hinting it will be labeled as fiction. He thinks he sees Samantha outside, only to find it is someone else. About ready to give up, Samantha suddenly appears and uses the same pick up line he teased her with at the party at the opening of the film and they happily reunite.
Boone, revealed to have survived the shootout, sits down next to Wes' agent and says he has a plan for a book about recipes for couples who are having marital troubles.

Review: Every aspect of the film, sadly including the acting, is awful - the directing, the editing, the so called special effects & the pathetic attempt of using embarrassing 'one-liners' to try & give it a comedy feel........
It's simply incredible that two famous actors accepted to act in such a terrible Z-movie.
The script and screenplay are so incredibly poor that it looks like a 5 year old child spent his time in writing this crap.
A writer's (Christian Slater) fiancé is kidnapped and he finds himself being chased by violent thugs (led by Cuba Golding Jr) who believe he has some diamond that his fiancé stole from them.
Nothing groundbreaking about the plot, but OK, could be a good Saturday night action film.
Appalling acting, an awful plot, dismal effects and shoddy camera work.Perhaps the most depressing part about this film is watching the death of the careers of two previously promising actors.
Christian Slater and Cuba Golding Jr, both have successful films behind them, but both have had a recent string of turkeys, and this should just about finish them off.
Cuba Gooding Jnr and Christian Slater must have felt the same way when they saw the finished product.
At the beginning I saw that in this movie plays Cuba Gooding Jr. and Christian Slater and I thought it's gonna be a nice movie.
Although one thing that I liked in this movie is the performance of Cuba Gooding Jr. as a bad guy.Finally "Lies & Illusions" is a movie to simply pass your time and nothing more..
The DVD cover and the serious sounding corny title promises a harder edged action piece possibly disappointing some fans of Slater and Gooding Jr. in this while the film itself wants to be some kind of dark comedy.
Christian Slater and Cuba Gooding Jr must be really resenting this little number on their cv's.
but this movie is so bad, and the most disappointing part of it was that the two lead cast (Slater and Gooding) are actually very good in other movies.
Slater was a joke and I would like to say that Cuba Gooding was the only good thing in the movie but I can't say it, even his performance was dismal (to say the least).
Christian Slater was acting so bad the two other actresses seemed like they were good.
I would have rated this less than a 1 if it let me.Definitely one of the worst movies I have ever seen With this cast, I thought it would be an OK movie.The story line was terrible.Action was awful.It was so bad that it started to become a comedy.Bad just doesn't begin to describe this movie.I have seen better acting in adult films.I am still in shock over just how terrible this movie was.I want that hour and a half of my life back!.
You won't know how bad the movie is, until you've invested a good 15 to 20 minutes.
The fighting scenes were ridiculous and Slater's bad acting just aggravated the situation..
this movie was like "hey lets take a great script and 2 great actors and surround them with porn stars (that keep their clothes on) and give them a $12 budget and see what lines they come up with".
just rambling here so i can fill the lines and help you all avoid getting this movie unless you love bad acting and total cheese..
Seems she didn't tell Wes all about her past.Wes has this thing about fast relationships because he soon is shacking with a magazine writer Nicole (Christa Campbell).Slater seemed to be having a good time; well, he was with Christa Campbell, but Gooding was the main man here.
Christian plays a good sexy bad guy.
You can have any amateur director add the worse screen write, and then top that with a bunch of terrible actors, and finally you'll get what you have in this movie.
That is difficult with this movie as it does not deserve two lines of text, good or bad.
The very best bit about this movie is reading all the crap reviews and the fact that I only paid $1 for it...Needless to say I'll be billing Mr. Slater in due course..
Dear friends and lovers of cinema, when I completed watching this movie my only consolation was to look forward on its comments on IMDb. I guess I wasn't able to leave the cinema right after 15 minutes because I was somehow compelled to stay and be amazed by this constantly unfolding cinematic accident...
To end positively: The only good job amidst 'Lies & Illusions' was done in marketing this movie, i.e. the text on the cinema program and DVD cover.
- Has anybody ever read a comment of Slater or Gooding jr on this film?.
As other reviewers have indicated, I am posting this review solely to (hopefully) prevent others from making the mistake my husband and I did when we rented it - wasting 90 minutes of our lives (before we finally turned it off) that we will never get back.The trailers we saw for "Lies & Illusions" on other DVDs tricked us; the cover and description on the DVD itself mislead us; the premise sounded promising and full of potential; and - most of all - Christian Slater and Cuba Gooding Jr. as the two leads fooled us into thinking that this would be - at the very worst - a fun time-waster.It was a time-waster but it was not fun.
It was like a "porno" without the porn, leaving only "o" or, more accurately, "0": zero, nada - no redeeming qualities.I had the same experience as other reviewers, wondering 15 or 20 minutes into it (after commenting to my husband about the high "cheese" factor) if maybe it was intended as some kind of parody, which would explain the strange James Bond soundtrack.But nothing could explain the dialogue.
I would like to hear from Christian Slater and Cuba Gooding, Jr as to their thoughts on this movie.
Unless they knew that this movie was going to be shot like a "Spaghetti Western" with a really low budget I would think that they were quite displeased with the results..
It was obvious from the start of the movie that this was low budget and going to look like some kind of college assignment gone wrong.
If I was Christian Slater or Cuba Gooding Jr. I would have distanced myself from this movie as soon as I read the script.
They must have been forced to do the movie due to gambling debts or blackmail.Acting was terrible and forced, camera shots were sloppy and cheap, editing was crappy, and even the special effects looked like my 7 year old son had done them.
I don't know what was harder to watch, the gun fights or Christian slaters chase scene in the car with both women towards the end.
This was one of the worst films I have ever seen.....Slater should be ashamed of himself.....terrible acting.....Cuba did the only class acting.
I have seen Slater in other movies, though not on my favourite list of actors, he had done a much better job.
There are movies that are so bad that, after a short while, I just stop watching and move on.
Would never have completed watching it if Gooding and Slater weren't in it.If you absolutely have nothing else to do, go ahead and waste some time.
It's no surprise to see Cuba Gooding make another mistake, but I was quite surprised to see Christian Slater involved in such a clunker.I can guarantee you will be stunned at the low level of acting in this film, although the final scene may bring a legitimate laugh.
Hard to believe that good actors like Christian Slater and Cuba Gooding actually agreed to be in this loser after reading the script.
The only thing about this film that is worse than the script is the lousy attempt at directing, horrible camera work and even worse music score.
The music score in this film sounds like a throwback from an old James Bond film and none of it matches up with the action in the film.The cinematography and editing is so pathetically amateur that I could have done a better job with a hand-held camcorder and editing the film on my home PC.This film is so bad that it's actually found myself laughing at the awful dialog, and lousy directing..
A generic movie made better by Slater and Gooding Jr. I love Christian Slater, he's an underrated actor who deserves to get better parts.
This movie is a generic, throw away thriller but Slater and Cuba Gooding Jr at least make it fun.
But what actor would not have a panic attack having to react to dialogue like: "...or I'll put two more holes in your girlfriend -- and not the good kind." (???) How can Slater keep a straight face when, his head bathed in blood, he tells his on screen girlfriend: "you shouldn't come.
The script is completely lame, the acting by each cast member wouldn't even pass muster in your child's school play and the action sequences look like they were directed by a blind grandmother.
The lead actress Sarah Ann Schultz needs to find another career, it's baffling how she even got cast.The worst movies ever made are frequently entertaining to watch simply because they are so bad you can laugh at them.
Sadly this movie is not one of the worst films ever made, like everything else about the film it even failed at this goal, instead it's just merely very bad and as a consequence it is just torturous to watch.
I was really excited when I read the plot summary on the DVD backside, plus seeing both Cuba Gooding Jr. and Christian Slater on the cast even spiced it more up.
I started watching expecting my mind to be blown away by the end of the movie, and it was, but somewhere in the beginning, because of the unbelievably bad plot acting and shooting, and the soundtrack...
I'm definitely going through with this review.I give it 2 stars, one for Christian Slater and the other for Cuba Gooding Jr., because I have some respect for both of them, although I lost some of it, because I can't understand how they signed up for this.
I've been a bit of a fan of Christian Slater and Cuba Gooding, Jr. in the past but this movie has fixed me of that.
There is not too much more to say than this so I will just fill the remaining space with a bit of wasted writing which parallels the waste of film, time and resources for this painful movie.
It looks like there was only enough money for the first 5 to 10 minutes of the movie, because after that it becomes worse and worse.
I only decided to watch it because of Cuba Gooding Jr. and Cristian Slater, but even their presence in the movie couldn't save it.
I have to say it is the worst movie I have watched to the end, in 2 years.
Lastly, I don't know if Christian & Cuba were in some kind of a trouble, or are just good friends with this sad, artistically challenged Hungarian guy (director).
This movie gets fun when you hit pause on select scenes and add your own dialog.It was sort of a shocker to see this barrage of bad acting had Christian Slater and Cuba Gooding Jr. leading the charge, but the bad acting rubbed off on them and just made the disaster complete.
I wouldn't be surprised if half the actors were buddies of the guy who did the casting, had most of their acting experience in movies where there were no clothes, or there was a artsy deliberate aim to hit low in order the achieve a Velveeta cheese crying viewer effect.Just in case sloppy cheese was the goal I'll give it a 2 for that effort.
Times must be tough in Hollywood if Cuba Gooding Jr. and Christian Slater thought they were onto a winner when they read this script.
The rest of the cast lets down these 'normally' great actors and the corny lines, and bad, bad, bad special effects make it a true B-grade, made for DVD movie.
Truly awful.Slater and Gooding Jr. crack jokes throughout the movie, but it's clearly ad lib, as the rest of actor's lines are flat and robotic.
I blame the director who takes an A-1 cast and runs them around in a film that feels like a lesser TV movie.
Certainly this film is no where near as good as Slater's recent failed TV series My Own Worst Enemy.
There is something worse than watching an inept movie — watching a one that had some promise and blows it.This will likely go directly to video because of multiple deficiencies.The plot:We have a celebrated writer who has just written a book on honesty in relationships.
The review I quote below says it all "There is something worse than watching an inept movie — watching a one that had some promise and blows it.This will likely go directly to video because of multiple deficiencies.The plot: We have a celebrated writer who has just written a book on honesty in relationships.
You may find yourself mumbling things like, "Why doesn't someone either give him (Christian Slater) some good lines or just make him stop talking instead of incessantly blurting out useless commentary for the whole last half of the movie." The background music was the only redeemingly professional aspect of this whole production.
It doesn't seem that long ago when Christian Slater and Cuba Gooding Jr. were getting roles in theatrical movies made by major Hollywood studios.
The movie is also *very* tightly filmed throughout, as if Tackacs had limited time and money to set up shots, resulting in a very cramped feeling.
This lack of resources may explain why the quality of the cinematography and focus keeps changing.In fairness to Tackacs (and I guess Slater and Gooding as well), they were all working with one of the most inept scripts I've witnessed for a long time.
I expected more from Cuba Gooding Jr. because all of the other movies.
Christian Slater was also kind of bad in the movie.
In one scene Slater gets beat up by the bad guys in broad daylight.
Slater has the power of Jesus.Second, all of the reviews saying that this movie is crap are true.
The only reason I gave it a 2 out of 10 was because it was sooooo bad that I just could not believe it was playing on cable, and I could not believe Slater and Gooding were in it.
I think it is a good movie to watch with a bunch of your friends just so that you can all comment during the movie about how bad it is and have a laugh at it.
I was surprised by the cover of this film, which has interesting close ups of two of it's main stars (Slater & Gooding Jr.), and a pretty cool picture of a car flipping over.
For something to be spoiled it must at one time be good, so there is no way to spoil this movie.
Have you ever watched a movie that was really bad and you were 15 minutes from the end and thought, "well, I've made it this far and might as well finish it?" Don't do it.
The one thing that I noticed about the film is that its star Christian Slater as self help author Wes Wislon is having the time of his life in being in the movie.Slater who lately will take any role he can get his hands on somehow manages to keep a smile on his face throughout the entire film that you start to wounder if he's really enjoying being in it or is popped up on uppers to the point where he feels no pain or embarrassment in how ridicules the movie, or his part in it , really is.
As for the very embarrassed looking Cuba Goodin Jr he did, unlike Slater, look like he just couldn't wait for the movie to finally end so he could finally be through with being in it even if he would have to be killed off for that to happen!.
Even Christian Slater and Cuba Gooding Jr. Then again...
His dialog is bad, his body just seems to not want to work in this turd of a film.One need only look at the Director of this flick, Tibor Takács to see why this is such a failure.
It was like watching the thunderbirds but 10 times worse.PLEASE AVOID THIS MOVIE!!.
except that it makes most other bad movies look a little bit better.
Cut scenes in the middle of the fights just make you want to know where the hell is the continuity?I tried to watch it just because I like Christian Slater, but I broke after 30 minutes.
Nice to see Slater and Gooding in a movie together.
Slater's character is quite hard to bare, and got annoying quickly, while Gooding is obviously slumming it in his bad-guy role.
The only scene I truly dug in this movie, had to be where Slater is doing his book signing, and Gooding asks him to sign his novel, that was a pretty effective segment.Performances.
Look for better works of Slater and Gooding's, you'll be glad you did.3/10.
When I read the trailer, I automatically assumed that it would be a great movie...after all Gooding and Slater???
Bad guy fumbling to answer his cell phone, Slater being punched several times on his left cheek and bleeding from the right.
I liked the plot...I like Christian Slater and Cuba...acting was pretty good throughout except when they tried to get funny.
Just a good movie concept gone bad!