Paramount has acquired the rights to “Middle Men,” a film we’re no longer cautiously anticipating, starring Luke Wilson, James Caan and Giovanni Ribisi. The film is based on the true story “of Jack Harris (Wilson), who helps two troubled but brilliant men build the first online billing company dealing exclusively with adult entertainment. He’s soon caught between the Russian mob, a porn star, the FBI and his family, all while becoming very rich.” Directed by George Gallo, filming on this wrapped a year ago and buzz has been pretty much non-existent which led us to believe it might’ve been headed straight-to-DVD, but Paramount apparently sees something in this we don’t.
A length red-band trailer/promo reel has landed and frankly, the movie plays out like a low-rent version of “Boogie Nights” just fast-forwarded to the ’90s. Wilson uses his cell phone plan hustling voice to narrate while Ribisi overacts all the place as things spiral out of control. Even though it’s supposedly “true” the story gets pretty preposterous as it goes along and the “family man turns to porn for money” logline is already pretty played out. We’ll stick with HBO’s excellent “Hung” for now.
Watch for yourself below. Fast forward to the 45:35 mark.
