Since the start of the internet a lot of things have changed in the way people do business. You used to have to go to a shop and listen to someone in a store to tell you everything about a product without knowing if they were making stuff up. With a bit of googling you can now find more information about a product yourself. As a result the function of a shop has changed quite drastically. The internet has also changed the music industry forever. Any song you would like to listen to can be found within seconds and as a result the record sales have dropped dramatically.
The porno industry has rode the internet wave as well, using it to spread their “product” easily. It’s no longer necessary for customers to go to a dodgy shop to buy a video or some dirty magazines. Just a couple of clicks and a credit card are needed in order to enter the world of adult entertainment. Middle Men tells the story of the first steps of this industry onto the internet. Does that make this movie the The Social Network for the internet porn industry?
Supposedly Middle Men is based on a true story, although it is never made clear on which persons the characters were based. When the movie started with a voiceover I was slightly worried that this movie would turn out bad as it’s not something which will always work. Of course there are exceptions, like Goodfellas and Sunset Blvd, but usually it is used as an easy way to tell something instead of showing it.
The voiceover is done by Jack Harris (Luke Wilson), a businessman who is regularly called to help when businesses have issues. He’s asked to help Wayne Beering (Giovanni Ribisi) and Buck Dolby (Gabriel Macht), two men who have started a business selling “dirty pictures” by scanning them in from magazines and putting them online.
Their idea turns out to be brilliant and it doesn’t take long before they start earning serious amounts of money. The big problem though is that these two have no idea on how to run a company, argue all the time and make a bad deal with a Russian gangster.Jack gets involved in the situation and tries to help them. It turns out this is quite difficult with the unpredictability of Wayne and Buck.
Middle Men has a great cast with a lot of well-known actors like James Caan, Terry Crews, Kelsey Grammar, Robert Foster and Kevin Pollak. Some of these actors are not used to their full potential though (it would have been great to see more of Terry Crews) and it’s a shame to see James Caan play the type of role he usually does.
The movie has a nice mix of humour, violence, political games and beautiful women, but because the movie feels more like a comedy it just can’t reach the level of quality The Social Network had. It’s
Score: 7