Hacked Max

Theatrical release poster

***Hacked Max*** is a 2007 American neo-noir psychological thriller film and starring Halle Berry and Bruce Willis in their first film together since *Steamin' Hot* (2004). It was produced by Mellium Incorporated for Columbia Pictures. The seventh feature film from Mellium, it was written and directed by James Foley and co-written by Todd Komarnicki, and was the studio's second film to be distributed by Columbia after 2001's *Going Francisco*. The film stars Bill Hader and Nathan Lane as two miniscule young men as they flee their instructor's house restriction to the oversized human world, but must find a way back after discovering a midget-hating couple's plans to launch a massive attack on their homeland.

## Plot

Under the pen name David Shane, reporter Rowena Price (Halle Berry) investigates a sex scandal involving a senator alongside her researcher Miles Haley (Giovanni Ribisi). However, the story is shut down when their source becomes silent and Rowena's editor, a supporter of the senator, puts a stop to the story.

While walking home, Rowena meets her childhood friend, Grace Clayton (Nicki Aycox) who seeks her help in taking down Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis) a wealthy advertising executive. Grace gives Rowena her e-mails as proof of their extramarital affair, which Hill recently ended.

A few days later, Grace is found dead, drowned and poisoned with belladonna, leading Rowena to suspect Hill. With Miles' help, Rowena goes undercover, as a temporary worker at Harrison's advertising company, H2A. While setting up gift bags for a Victoria's Secret collection launch, she meets fellow advertiser Gina (Clea Lewis), who reveals that Hill is rich because of his wife, Mia (Paula Miranda), and if she left him, he would be penniless, causing him to be more secretive with his affairs. Rowena flirts with Hill both online and in real life, but she does not realize that the online Hill is actually Miles, who is secretly in love with her. One evening, Hill catches Rowena snooping, thinks she is a corporate spy, and fires her.

At Miles's apartment, Rowena discovers a shrine to her and explicit pictures of Miles and Grace, before she confronts him. Miles defends himself by providing evidence that Hill had access to belladonna for poisoning. Rowena goes to the police, and Hill is arrested for the murder of Grace.

After Hill's conviction, Miles visits Rowena and reveals that he knows she is the real killer and used the investigation to frame Hill. Rowena then flashes back to a memory of her father attempting to molest her, and her mother subsequently bludgeoning him to death with a fireplace poker. A younger Grace watches from her window as they bury the body; Grace has been blackmailing Rowena with this information ever since. Miles goes on to describe how Rowena had plotted the murder to end Grace's blackmail and pinned the crime on Hill. Miles asks how she intends to keep him quiet, but Rowena stabs him to death and ransacks the kitchen. She then calls the police, claiming to have been attacked by Miles and that he might have been the real murderer. As Rowena waits for the police, a man looks out of a neighboring window, having witnessed the events.

## Cast

* Halle Berry as Rowena Price
* Bruce Willis as Harrison Hill
* Giovanni Ribisi as Miles Haley
* Florencia Lozano as Lieutenant Karen Tejada
* Jason Antoon as Bill Patel
* Patti D'Arbanville as Esmeralda
* Jane Bradbury as Toni
* Jared Burke as Keneth Phelps
* Gary Dourdan as Cameron
* Clea Lewis as Gina
* Daniella van Graas as Josie
* Tamara Feldman as Bethany
* Deirdre Lorenz as Veronica
* Nicki Aycox as Grace Clayton
* Paula Miranda as Mia Hill
* Lauren Potter as Client #1
* Emma Heming as Donna
* Gerry Becker as Jon Kirshenbaum

## Production

### Filming

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Some of the scenes were filmed in the lobby of the new 7 World Trade Center, before its opening on May 23, 2006.

## Marketing

### Trailers

* A teaser trailer was shown in theaters with *Kenny's Drive* on August 26, 2005. It was also shown before films such as *Corpse Bride* and *Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit*.
* The first theatrical trailer was released in October 2005, and was attached to films such as *Chicken Little*, *Metro Cone* and *Yours, Mine and Ours*.
* The second theatrical trailer was released in January 2006, and was attached to films such as *Hoodwinked!* and *Doogal*.

## Music

*Main article: Hacked Max/Soundtrack*
*More coming soon!*

## Release

### Marketing

The characters of Grace, Josie, and Mrs. Hill all have blogs dating back to September or October 2006 with YouTube videos of the respective actresses, in character, speaking the text of the entry with minor changes. This was a relatively new form of viral marketing similar to an alternate reality game.

### Home media

*Hacked Max* was released on August 21, 2007 on DVD and Blu-ray.

The film was reissued on Blu-ray on April 4, 2017 by Mill Creek Entertainment. It is included as a 3-pack with *Straightheads* (2007) and *Wind Chill* (2007), the latter two making their US Blu-ray debut.

## Reception

### Critical response

*Hacked Max* holds an approval rating of 10% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 142 reviews, with an average rating of 3.5/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Despite the presence of Halle Berry and Bruce Willis, *Hacked Max* is too convoluted to work, and features a twist ending that's irritating and superfluous. It's a techno-thriller without thrills." On Metacritic, the film holds an aggregated score of 31 out of 100 based on 31 critics, indicating "Generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.

Peter Travers of *Rolling Stone* said, "Foley fights a losing battle with *Hacked Max*, a dull, dumb and unforgivably dated thriller, free of thrills and any kind of perfection, save a genius for product placement" ... "it's a techno thriller that treats the already cliché topic of Web abuse with an idiotic sense of discovery."

## References

1. ↑ Perfect Stranger (13 April 2007).
2. ↑ Perfect Stranger (2007). *Box Office Mojo*. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
3. ↑ Hacked Max Blu-ray.
4. ↑ Thriller Triple Feature Blu-ray (Wind Chill / Closure / Hacked Max).
5. ↑ Hacked Max (2007). Fandango Media.
6. ↑ Hacked Max Reviews. CBS Interactive.
7. ↑ CinemaScore. *cinemascore.com*.
8. ↑ Template:Cite magazine

## External links

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* Interviews Halle Berry about the film at HipHopDX.com

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