Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

SnoopyStyle Ted Ryker (Michael Keaton) is the bitter acerbic top salesman in the New York office accounting for about 70% of the sales. Jamie Bashant (Brendan Fraser) is the new salesman claiming to be the top salesman in his Ohio office. The company product is inferior but their boss John Whitman keeps touting a revolutionary model is coming. The two go out on sales calls. Jamie struggles to make his first sale. He's planning to marry fiancée Belisa (Amber Valletta) and Ted has an eye on her.There is a non-specificity to the product which leaves this feeling fake and unreal. It's also not unreal enough to be surreal. A lot of this feels fake (for a good reason). Jamie is so pathetic that it's unbelievable that he's a salesman of any worth in anywhere. The whole thing is oddly fake. Some of that unreality is explained in the twist but it's a bit too late. It never made sense that Ted and Jamie gets paired up as a sales team. I couldn't figure out why Ted is tied down with such a pathetic specimen. It was also odd that Ted never makes a sales in this movie. The central idea is intriguing but it needs to be executed with more realism.

MBunge This film is what you get when everyone has a different idea about what sort of movie they're making. Writer/director Michael Caleo thought he was making some sort of hip, clever drama like The Usual Suspects. Michael Keaton and Daniel Stern thought they were doing a comedy. Brendan Fraser apparently believed he was playing in some sort of angst-filled indy flick and Amber Valletta appears to have been doing some sort of tragic romance. Those disparate intentions slide into each other and produce a film that makes no sense and becomes more and more unintentionally hilarious as it tries to pretend that it does.Ted (Michael Keaton) is the top salesman at a computer technology company in New York City. He's a living, breathing Yosemite Sam, so angry at everything and everyone in the world that steam is practically coming out of his ears. His pathetic boss (Daniel Stern) has teamed Ted up with Jaime (Brendan Fraser), the new salesman on staff. Jaime is fresh into town from Ohio and is the bright and chipper opposite of Ted. At first, Ted is simply disgusted with Jaime's happiness and can-do attitude, but that changes after he meets Jaime's fiancé Belisa (Amber Valletta). Ted and Belisa quickly fall in lust, leading to Ted trying to help Jaime due to both guilt and to keep him busy so Ted can have Belisa all to himself. But as Jaime's failures continue, he turns into an ever surlier version of Ted. And as Ted's own sales falter because he's obsessed with Belisa, the company starts to collapse around him. Then there's a big twist at the end which even the dimmest bulb will have halfway figured out before the movie is halfway over. You'll only figure out about 50% of the twist, though, because it's just so stupid. It's like a 14 year old's notion of a cunning plan.The best thing about The Last Time is that the acting is good, but only in spurts. When he gets his chance, Keaton again demonstrates he's one of the great angry/funny ranters of his age. Stern is also good when he's on screen as the harried, sloganeering sales manager who always feels like he's drowning in quicksand. Valetta is suitably appealing as an object of desire and Fraser is almost as entertaining as Keaston when Jaime is allowed to just be funny.The worst thing about The Last Time is that writer/director Caleo understands his own script about as well as a jellyfish understands algebra. There are parts of this movie that are straight comedy, parts that are serious drama, parts that as edgy, parts that are mushy, parts that are over-the-top ridiculous and about 7 different other stuff. Caleo, quite bizarrely, treats all of it exactly the same. This isn't a serious movie with funny bits, it's not a comedy with dark moments and it's not goofy film that gets a little outrageous. It tries to be all of those things equally to laughably lame effect. It'll be things like an overtly humorous scene that has starkly dramatic music playing on the soundtrack at the same time or something as insane as Ted and Belisa having sex on the same bed where Jaime is passed out drunk being treated like a garden variety affair. It creates this overriding sense of unreality that prevents you from enjoying any part of the movie that much.Its little eruptions of comedy from Keaton and Stern, along with Amber Valetta going topless, prevent The Last Time from being completely unwatchable. There's a clunky fakeness to the whole film, though, that stops it from being that entertaining. You don't need to see this film but you won't end up hating yourself if you do.

jotix100 It's easy to dismiss "The Last Time" because like most people that have commented about it keep comparing it to David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross", an adaptation of his play directed by James Foley. While this film presents a different situation, basically, it is easy to see why Michael Caleo's film will be likened to the other one. In fact, Mr. Caleo made his name writing for television. His claim to fame is tied to the success of "The Sopranos", for which he contributed.We are introduced to the sales department of what might be a corporation involved in computer systems, although nothing is made clear. The star salesman is Ted, a man with a filthy mouth and an aggressive attitude toward his prospective customers. He totally dominates the work force because he is a successful salesman who generates a lot of revenue for his company.In spite of his exterior, Ted is a lonely guy. We see him getting to his huge loft apartment, a sterile atmosphere. One thing he can't be blamed for is the amount of books in the place; he is a big question mark with no apparent relationship at the moment. Ted is given the task of breaking in a new salesman from Ohio, Jamie, who has been hired based on his previous performance.Ted obviously hates the assignment. There is no love lost between the men. Ted realizes Jamie doesn't have what it takes to make in New York, a tough territory, indeed. When Ted meets Belisa, Jamie's fiancé, he sees a gorgeous creature ready for the attention his groom to be doesn't give her. The two embark into a dangerous affair that could only lead to trouble, as we watch it play out.In the process, we discover that Ted was a professor of literature at Northwestern. He has turned into sales from the world of academia, quite a change for him, or anyone for that matter. Ted, in a way, sees Jamie as the person he is not. In fact, that is the reason he goes after Belisa. Having conquered her, he has nothing else to prove.The whole reason for watching "The Last Time" is its star, Michael Keaton. He runs away with the film. Model, turned actress, Amber Valletta, is a beautiful woman. She is believable as Belisa. As the addled salesman from Ohio, Brendan Fraser convinces us, but his presence can be irritating.

litpics ~Possible Spoilers herein~The Last Time represents a dramatic character reversal, inevitably a character study, as opposed to just another independent feature.From the get-go, you don't really like Keaton's (Ted), the cocky, sarcastic, ambitious, and, worst of all, always right salesman. He knows all about his trade; what he's doing, and how he's doing it. Each moment we spend with him, however, we come to understand his nature. We dig to find his personal flaws, that which built the man portrayed before us. In the opposite, we have Fraser (Jaime), a green salesman who was big news in his small town, then comes the big city. We've seen this formula before, true, but Brendan has always been able to lose the veracity of himself in his character. You could compare this to the way he interviews, and his commentary on The Mummy DVD. In fact, you tend to feel sorry for him in this particular role.Finally, you have Valletta (Belisa), a housewife in complete support of her husband, going so far as to move to the big city with him so he may accomplish dreams so grand (hopes to start a family notwithstanding).This is all well and fine, but think when you watch of how you feel toward them in the beginning versus how you end up feeling about them.Ted turns out to be a very brilliant, but troubled, individual who's sole purpose in this job is not to crush others but actually to make as much money as possible. He was a professor, you see, highly successful at it due to his intelligence, but not altogether wealthy (a reason his wife decided to up and leave him). This chain of events propelled our man to move to the big city and prove his worth in this world. He attacks the forefront of sales under the disguise of confidence, but the soul of pain. Taking what he wants seems a primary motive, at first, until he meets Belisa, who renews in him that sense of purity and living. Though they begin and live an affair throughout, it would seem as true love. Ted, finally, is able to open up to someone and give his personality, not that guise that has guided him to her.Which brings us to Belisa, who fronts the lie of a happy housewife. Her Jaime is focused on doing his best, but is failing miserably. So, his work stalks him in his personal life, hitting her full swing with the loss of love, and a renewed seek of interest. Enter Ted, that sure-of-himself professional who takes charge where needed. Thus, we begin the affair.Back to Jaime, who we define as weak and afraid throughout. Someone, like I said before, we feel sorry for from the beginning primarily because we have all been there (starting out and not altogether sure of how). His lack of interest in his wife causes her to run to the arms of another man, and it seeps through as he knows she's going behind his back, but never to whom. He finds a fatherly figure in Ted, think of a son attempting all he can to win his father's respect, but never learned enough to do so. With the guilt of the affair, Ted feels sorry for the young man, and so assists him in any way possible.This, again, is a fairly typical formula, but as I said, each character takes a complete 180 near the end.We find Ted a poet by heart, and actually feel sorry for what happens to him. We find Jaime a conniving opportunist who knows full well how to manipulate others, and Belisa becomes the embodiment of (if this were a spy novel) a femme fatal. I will not to spoil how this comes to light, as not to be the purpose of this review. My intent is to give potential viewers a fair realization of what The Last Time is truly about, not what the surface will have you believe. If you walk into this thinking the overall production will be spectacular, disappointment will ensue. The music is not very well synthesized, the cinematography is average at best (but gets the point across), and the dialogue could've used a bit of strengthening. However, the direction is remarkable, the characters believable and full circle, and the story is superb in terms of originality. Keaton and Fraser deliver Ted and Jaime in such a way that you forget they are acting after only a bit of time (in my opinion, Keaton begins in character and never ends, whereas Fraser had moments of similarity to his other works {although quite remarkable, nonetheless}), while Valletta gives a rich performance.And, as I preemptively mentioned, all of these characters (including the supporting players {Daniel Stern especially}) oppose their first impression, which is how life really works this day in age. Actions govern personality, and vice versa.Rent this when you are ready to watch a character study, along with clever storytelling, not when you want to see overly dramatic play upon your TV screen. For that, I recommend you start watching Lifetime or a good percentage of movie channel (HBO, Showtime, etc) original series.