The Last Shot - DVD Review

Jeff Nathanson's directorial debut, The Last Shot is like a really great sitcom (and that's not an insult), nothing too deep or even memorable, but a script that really just wants to make you laugh for its full running time, a goal that most writers can't pull off. Jeff Nathanson, the man behind the clever-if-not-perfect screenplays for Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal, stepped behind the camera for the first time with the light, fun, impossible to market The Last Shot and now the film waits for you, loyal cult classic maker, to find and cherish.

Like plenty of well-written, hard-to-classify comedies of recent years (Wet Hot American Summer being the best example), The Last Shot, the true story of an FBI mob sting using the guise of a Hollywood production, was completely lost in the multiplex shuffle, to the point that most people don't even know it exists. That's a shame and I truly hope more people find this on their video store shelf before it gets lost again next to so many inferior comedies. Look at that cast again. This is a fantastic ensemble and having been given a clever script, every single one of them joinsin the fun.

That's the main charm of The Last Shot. Watching Tony Shalhoub play a disfigured mobster, Toni Collette piss in a cup at the dinner table (don't ask, you have to see it), and Joan Cusack just be her typically hysterical self, you get the feeling that everyone involved is having a blast. In comedy, unadulterated enthusiasm can sometimes be infectious. Austin Powers is enjoyable largely because of the no-holds-barred excitement of Mike Myers and how he openly throws himself into every single line. So many comedies look like a bunch of actors going through the motions but Nathanson has written such an enjoyable script that it's no surprise so many talented actors jumped on board and it looks like they had a great time doing it.

There's nothing overly remarkable or incredibly clever about The Last Shot and that's what makes it so unique. Judged on the scale of "if it's a comedy, does it make me laugh", The Last Shot has to be given a great review, simply because I laughed almost all the way through, sometimes even out loud, a rarity for me with Hollywood comedies. Not everything works, but there's something charming about the simplicity of a straightforward comedy that's not out to change the world or make any great statements, it just wants to make you laugh. As he talks about in his commentary with Matthew Broderick, The Last Shot is not a cynical look at Hollywood, something that has been done to death; it's actually a very loving film, one that's primary focus is just to keep you entertained. It's not a traditional satire or an easily marketable gross-out film, which is probably why Buena Vista had no clue how to platform or market it (at least in Chicago, it played at the wrong theater). This should have been an art film, like the similarly clever State and Main, but they went after the big comedy guns of last fall and there was no way a film this unusual (a comedy without physical humor, a rarity nowadays) was going to compete with those. But, and this is the true glory of DVD, now you can find an unseen gem like this one on your own and maybe even help turn it into a cult classic like Office Space. The bandwagon starts here. Jump on board.