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Rating:
Rick starts out as an entertainingly scabrous anti-capitalist satire, along the same lines as Mary Harron's American Psycho but played more for laughs. The opening scenes -- involving Rick (Bill Pullman), his callow, sex-obsessed young boss, Duke (Aaron Stanford), a disastrous job interview, and the subsequent encounter with Michelle (Sandra Oh), the humiliated prospective employee -- are a bitterly funny and trenchant critique of white-male corporate culture, and the satire only sharpens when Rick encounters his old schoolmate, Buck (the ever reliable Dylan Baker), who offers Rick his services while pointedly avoiding stating what it is he does. But after a promising beginning, the plot kicks in, and the film begins to unravel. Screenwriter Daniel Handler, of Lemony Snicket fame, has a sharp ear for corporate logo-speak, and cinematographer Lisa Rinzler captures the gleaming grandiosity of the milieu. Pullman does an admirable job with tricky material, as does the very watchable Agnes Bruckner as Rick's daughter, Eve. Stanford's role is more cartoonish, and he doesn't quite pull it off. Oh and Baker shine in smaller, keenly written roles; however, the main problem is tone. After the mean-spirited opening, it's nearly impossible to make Rick sympathetic, but the filmmakers try, giving him an unconvincing past family tragedy and playing up his devotion to Eve. In hewing to the general outline of +Rigoletto's plot, the film sacrifices suspension of disbelief, as the baroque twists of the opera don't jibe with the contemporary corporate setting. While flawed, Rick is an admirable effort that offers, at least for a while, a stinging respite from the typical mushy Hollywood-style comedy. Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

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