Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

I saw the preview for this sometime ago. Wasn't really expecting this. But then again it has Robin Williams with Danny Devitto directing so you're going to get some witty, gangsta type of dialogue. I've always been a big fan of Williams, even though he's not the primary focus of this movie. Yet he does manage to steal the parts playing more or less a schizophrenic maniac in his paranoid deluded world. This movie reminds me a lot of my work place. All the politics, lies, and deception just to get a percentage. In some perverse way, I identified with Edward Norton's character, someone who wants not to change the world, but to make a dent where possible. He's surrounded by a host of dishonest rats, but through his perserverence and integrity, he manages to sway the hearts of normally dark people. At work, I try to do the same, instead converting the Japanese severe work aesthetic, into one of free dialogue and comfort. Right now two of my co-workers have already been assimilated, so I know the Smoochy way of doing things works :) I think one of the interesting statements of the show was how this kid network was run by a sleuth of crooked executives and connected to various underground socities. One curious part was where at the beginning Robin Williams makes a small deal with some couple who want their child to be cast on stage next to him. Of course, that's all a rouse to upstage him which in turn causes his downfall. This movie shares many parallels with Swimming with Sharks in its notoriety of the entertainment industry. With all the insider jokes that's displayed in recent satire about Hollywood, one has to wonder how it manages to operate. Of course, that probably can be explained somewhat through the references of mafias that negotiate their presence through raw bullying. In seeing something like this, I often ponder what would happen if you got a bunch of lawyers, politicians, entertainment execs and stock traders into a single room and played "Survivor."