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Backstabbing For Beginners
Rating: B-
it goes without saying that majority of us know that when it comes to politicals things can be easily corrupted and turn sketchy fairly quickly. The new film Backstabbing For Beginners takes us behind the curtain of the UN and shows us more of politics dark underbelly that is filled with not only bribes and backroom deals, but also coverups and murder. This film is based on the true story of Michael Soussan, who is the man who exposed the dark side of the Food for Oil program back in 2003.
The film stars Theo James as Michael Soussan and Ben Kingsley as his boss, Pasha. When Pasha's previous program coordinator is murdered they Hire Michael to fill the position and he is quickly whisked off to Iraq where he begins to learn just how corrupt these "life-saving" programs can be. While the film is interesting it is not very surprising. As I said before it is no shock that politicians and corporations are corrupt and doing whatever they can to take care of themselves. More than anything this film will really just piss you off because despite the fact that this movie is all about blowing the whistle on this corruption it is just one drop in the bucket of all that is happening anywhere in the world in the world of politics. But I am getting off track so let's regroup and get back to the film. Theo James does an okay job with this movie. I liked him much more as the stoic badass Four in the Divergent series. In this film, he feels stiff and I don't know just not very expressive in his acting. I kept waiting for more emotion to come from him, but even his character didn't seem that affected by what was happening around him. Ben Kingsley is always awesome in everything he does. He once again does a great job in this role. The only thing I kept finding funny was every time he dropped an F-bomb in his Iraqi accent. It just felt really out of place but was hard to not laugh at.
Overall the film was good, but it did drag at a couple places. It felt like they were trying hard to make this an Oscar contender but just fell short of that. Again this was still interesting to watch, but don't expect it to change your life or your opinion on politics. After viewing we scored this one with a B-. It held our attention but maybe would have been better with a different lead actor at the helm. Sorry, Theo, we do love you though.
Backstabbing For Beginners hits the AMC Studio 30 on Friday, April 27th.
Starring: Theo James, Jacqueline Bisset, Belçim Bilgin, Rossif Sutherland, Rachel Wilson & Ben Kinsley
Synopsis: Based on a true story, an idealistic young employee working at the UN investigates the grisly murder of his predecessor and uncovers a vast global conspiracy, that may even involve his own boss, in this gripping and timely thriller.