Good David Mamet written film, with the usual Mamet-style dialogue, that doesn't have a real plot and not quite a character study either, yet still engrossing even with characters who are real estate scammers. Seen this several times over the years and still mesmerized by Jack Lemmon's performance. Pacino was good but Lemmon deserved the nod over him. **4.0/5**

Interesting adaptation of a theater play with a great cast for a choral movie. The script is not that interesting, from my POV, but this is a story for actors and the cast is great.

Incredibly realistic mood… It captures the environment of a sales team so well… The stress, the competition, the somewhat adversarial relationship between management and the front office…

The predatory, hunter-gatherer nature of it all

Such a great film…

Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey and Alec Baldwin head up this adaptation of an award-studded stage production. Naturally, given a cast so drenched with talent, the audience is going to want to see them flaunt their acting chops, and thankfully, that's the key to this entire production. Without a tight band of intense, versatile, believable characters at its core there's no chance a plot that revolves around sales calls and a bland office robbery would be anything more than a snoozer. But in this cast's hands, with this combination of sharp, passionate dialog and sleazy, self-serving lack of morality, it's totally entrancing.

Like many play-to-film interpretations, there is a certain amount of stagnation in terms of the film's scenery. The vast majority of the action takes place in a sales office, with phone calls, police interviews and (de)motivational speakers providing the flavor. Those tame surroundings work in a variety of unusual ways, though: as a means to ground the story in reality, an exercise in diverting our attention solely to the acting, and a device to give the rare peeks outside the office's not-so-friendly confines an added dash of color. A master class in cadence and characterization, it's a deep, emphatic and intoxicating look at the gamut of techniques a desperate salesman can (and will) employ.