"A Distinguished Gentleman" is about a con man Thomas Jefferson Johnson (Eddie Murphy) who realizes that the best con that he could pull is not as a small time operator in Florida, but as a Congressman in Washington D.C. making shady backroom deals with corporate lobbyists. All he has to do is vote a certain way on certain pieces of legislation and then get rewarded down the road with "donations" from corporations and other interest groups (including the gun lobby).
The three-fifths of "A Distinguished Gentleman" is great. There are many clever scenes in this film that expose Congress and corporations as rotten to the core and I personally think that it is sad that more films, like this one, are not made about the rottenness of Congress and Corporate America; and that the Hollywood establishment is reluctant to admit that, in today's America, we really have government by the corporations and not government by the people. But what also makes the first three-fifths so good is the use of humor as for indicting not only the political system, but also in a subtle way American society. I am referring, for instance, to that scene where an automatic weapons manufacturer explains that his autonomic guns should be sold because they are needed for hunting. Next you see Johnson, Chairman Dodge (Lane Smith in a marvellously wicked performance) and the manufacturer in a hilarious scene firing their automatic guns at ducks (when regular rifles would suffice). Wonderful. Another wonderful scene involves Terry Corrigan (Kevin McCarthy) explaining to Johnson that But then this film goes downhill, albeit slowly. I was entertain until the end, but I felt that the last two-fifths were not at good as the stellar three-fifths. Why? The first reason is the corny love story between Johnson and Celia Kirby (Victoria Rowell) which I thought distracted from the already clever story line. The other thing I object to was the decision of the producers to go for a happy ending, which creates the impression that all is write in the world as far as Congress and corporations are concern. The reality is that Congress is just as rotten now as it was in 1992 (when the film was made). The culprits were never held accountable. Meaningful, transformative changes continue to be held back. Reasoned bi-partisanship to resolve the country's outstanding problems, which include the environment, the deficit, the loss of middle class jobs and others, is non-existent.
The three-fifths of "A Distinguished Gentleman" is great. There are many clever scenes in this film that expose Congress and corporations as rotten to the core and I personally think that it is sad that more films, like this one, are not made about the rottenness of Congress and Corporate America; and that the Hollywood establishment is reluctant to admit that, in today's America, we really have government by the corporations and not government by the people. But what also makes the first three-fifths so good is the use of humor as for indicting not only the political system, but also in a subtle way American society. I am referring, for instance, to that scene where an automatic weapons manufacturer explains that his autonomic guns should be sold because they are needed for hunting. Next you see Johnson, Chairman Dodge (Lane Smith in a marvellously wicked performance) and the manufacturer in a hilarious scene firing their automatic guns at ducks (when regular rifles would suffice). Wonderful. Another wonderful scene involves Terry Corrigan (Kevin McCarthy) explaining to Johnson that But then this film goes downhill, albeit slowly. I was entertain until the end, but I felt that the last two-fifths were not at good as the stellar three-fifths. Why? The first reason is the corny love story between Johnson and Celia Kirby (Victoria Rowell) which I thought distracted from the already clever story line. The other thing I object to was the decision of the producers to go for a happy ending, which creates the impression that all is write in the world as far as Congress and corporations are concern. The reality is that Congress is just as rotten now as it was in 1992 (when the film was made). The culprits were never held accountable. Meaningful, transformative changes continue to be held back. Reasoned bi-partisanship to resolve the country's outstanding problems, which include the environment, the deficit, the loss of middle class jobs and others, is non-existent.