Raetsonwe Redundant and unnecessary.

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Fulke Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Martin Bradley "Rick" transposes the plot of "Rigoletto" to the world of New York big business sans the music. It's a nice, if obvious, dark little picture that almost no-one has seen. Bill Pullman is the corporate whizkid whose dirty dealings and total disregard for people's feelings come back to haunt him when he is 'cursed' by Sandra Oh's waitress that he's been particularly nasty to, (he gets her fired from her job for starters). Pullman is fine, (he's an underrated actor at the best of times), as is Aaron Stanford as his slimy younger boss and the movie is just nasty enough to make an impact. No classic then but far from being a dog either.

Kim Morgan Other's have given good synopses of the plot so I'll not go along that route, and I'll keep this brief. One other commenter noted the quality of Bill Pullman and I have to concur. He has a habit of choosing rather off-beat films that deserve greater success than they receive; I'm thinking of The Zero Effect and Lost Highway rather than Independence Day.I was expecting very little from this film and was awed by the quality of the production. Rick managed to build its own style as a film, being grotesque and dramatic, yet the moniker of DARK COMEDY was not a lie on the sleeve, it really was very funny.Thankfully the film only follows the same general route as the opera. Guiseppe Verdi (sounds so dull when you translate it to English - Joe Green) never wrote for the screen. Yet... the production retains a very set-like feel, as if it was taken from a play.The only criticism that I can really level at Rick is that it seems to lose its pacing in the last 15 minutes, when you can see the slow car-crash of a finale approaching. The director really passes up opportunities to build suspense and there is a feeling of an opportunity lost. However, this stands out only due to the quality overall.In summary, it's got really superb characters, none of them are out of the box at all. Gothic and fatalistic, funny and sexy but cruel and merciless. The acting is faultless, stand-out performances from Bill Pullman and Sandra Oh, with a special mention for one of the most cringe-worthy bosses of all time to Aaron Stanford - watch out for him in the future.

painkillr this movie showed a lot of promise in the beginning, effective in its displays of style, sadism, humor, and even maybe some sensitivity.but as the film went along, and the ending came within site and it was clear where the film was going, you become angry at the laziness of the filmmakers in devising the ending and also become angry at them for stupidly misusing their artistic gifts (which were on display in this movie) to come to a conclusion that they probably think was iconoclastic but actually was just pathetic.i registered solely to tell all the potential viewers of this film that if you watch this movie, be prepared to despise everyone involved in this film after the credits role.so if i'm not being crystal clear here, i hope the director and the writer on this film never are allowed to be involved in any way whatsoever with another movie I lay eyes upon.

maguffin39 I saw "Rick" yesterday at Anthology, and it keeps playing in my head. Based on Verdi's "Rigoletto, the film is not afraid to mix both dark humor and tragedy. "Rick" manages to satire the corporate world and its self-centered "Masters of the Universe" types, while still keeping true to the gut level truth of tragedy's inevitable demand for its "pound of flesh." 'Rick' takes us inside a rather claustrophobic world of boardrooms and offices, where sex is played over computer chat rooms or under mahogany desks. It's Christmas time, but the emphasis here is on 'taking' all that you can get.Pullman and Stanford are loathsome yet vulnerable pawns in this game of fate. They get what they deserve. Standouts are young Agnes Bruckner as Eve and especially effective is Sandra Oh's terrific bar scene. Definitely worth seeing. I may never look at my Dylan albums the same.