Man Overboard

There are many movies out there that can lay claim to showing the art of the hard sell. ‘Boiler Room’, ‘Wall Street’, and even ‘Superman’ to an extent (lets be honest, Lex Luthor was nothing more than a glorified Realtor always trying to buy land for low and selling for high) are all broad examples of movies that have shown us the seedy backrooms of movers and shakers. But even as they expose the corrupt underbelly of the “art of the deal”, they all lack one fundamental thing. Reality. I can imagine back in the coked out 80’s that some of the premises of these movies might have held more than a kernel of truth, but none of them really hold up to today's working world.

Now, a quick piece of disclosure. The Film Snob used to work as a filthy, dirty, used-car salesman in a small town in Maine. So, my perspective on this movie went right into the positive less than 20 minutes into this. ‘Man Overboard’ is about a used boat lot owner they call The Captain, who hires a slick suave sales machine named Johnny Cross. Johnny quickly shows his chops to C.J. (The Captain) and earns his trust, and the title of Sales Manager to a crew of lazy, unmotivated salespeople who make all the classic selling mistakes (more on that a little later). But soon after hiring Johnny, the boat lot turns from an honest to goodness sales shop to a place where customers are cheated out of their money (rather than coerced out of it) and is a hostile work environment for fellow employees. C.J. soon realizes that he must rid his beloved Mason Marine of his sales nemesis and take back what is rightfully his…His lot, and his dignity.

This film does a whole lot of right. The reality of this flick is absolutely stunning. The way that the scenes where C.J. or Johnny are trying to sell to a customer are almost like I was saying the dialogue myself. It took me right back to the car lot all over again. I was immediately hooked by this movie after the line “buyers are liars”, as that phrase was punched into my head at the top of every sales meeting I’ve ever had. That being said, there are several other tag lines that are used in this movie that, if you’ve ever bought a new or used car or boat or anything before, you will immediately recognize. I won’t quote them here for fear of ruining some of the best parts of the movie for the audience. But you will quickly catch my drift once you give this flick a go. I laughed quite often at the supporting cast of salespeople as they made all the classic mistakes of the sales process (see, I told you I’d get to it in a second). From the moment C.J. asks the character Frank if he got a couple’s name and phone number to follow up with them, and Frank tells him that “my customers always come back”, I was taken once again to the sales manager’s desk at the lot I worked at and yelled at for letting a customer go without getting their information first. The reality that was injected into this movie was stunning. Of course, I had experience with this sort of thing before, but I believe it is something that everyone who has ever been sold something or has sold something can understand and enjoy.

From a cinematography standpoint, the movie looks great. The bulk of the scenes were shot during the day (and mostly exteriors), and not once did the color look off or did the film look flashed from overexposure. The interiors were lit and shot just as well. The director didn’t seem to see the need for crazy camera angles or epic dolly or crane shots. The movie was shot exactly how it had to look, and that is a compliment to the director (Oliver Robins) who orchestrated a great looking movie that was a pleasure to view.

As for the sound in this movie. Time and again I’m amazed of the talent that I see working in independent movies from a music perspective. This film was wonderfully scored, and composer Kevin McDaniels did the film justice with the music he injected into the flick. There are a lot of quiet times in this movie where dialogue is not accompanied by a score, but it works for the scene and actually added some depth in my opinion.

Overall, I have a very high opinion of this movie. It looks great and, dare I say it, feels great as well. The end of the movie left me satisfied in a way that a lot of Hollywood movies (who lately try to leave EVERYTHING open for a sequel) don’t leave me anymore. When it was done, I was done. And I think that’s a good place to end.