I was really worried going in to watch Knife Fight. Not because of the actors, or the plot, or the director. No, it was because of the previews before the movie.
There were four, and all of the movies either got a 2 or lower from me, so nothing really excited me from the group. Those movies were Love and Honor, On The Road, Save The Date, and Price Check. Ugh.
Seriously, seeing something like that before a film can depress a man. Thankfully, I forgot about the previews after only a few minutes in.
It’s the hair. How can you still find hate with that hair there?
Paul Turner (Rob Lowe) is a political strategist. Behind every great politician, there was a Paul Turner. He helps the politician talk to the press, to say the right thing, and to handle spin control. New story bad for our guy coming out? How can Paul Turner fix it.
He has two candidates that he is working with and soon to be a third.
Larry Becker (Eric McCormack) is already in office, but he hasn’t made the corporations happy. So his opponent is a baseball legend, being funded quite a large sum of money, finding every possible way to attack him. He also might have had an affair.
Stephen Green (David Harbour) is an all around great guy, who cares about where he comes from, a war hero, but had developed a bad back. With a bad back, he has found himself on the massage table quite often and may have had an affair.
Huh. I see a pattern.
Penelope Nelson (Carrie-Anne Moss) is not a politician, but a doctor who helps run a free clinic and wants to fix the town. She is a really really hard sale, to even get her name out there, but at least she hasn’t had an affair. …. …. …. Or has she?
Also starring Jamie Chung as Paul’s new assistant, and Julie Bowen / Richard Schiff as political helpers as well. That’s right, a mini The West Wing reunion in a movie about politics.
Yes, I do find that peephole-ish view of this scene a tad bit creepy.
Overall, I can say this movie was okay. It was decent. A true earner of the 2 out of 4 rating.
It would have rated lower if it weren’t for the hilarious political ads. Every single one of them, on both Rob Lowe’s side and the opponents side parodied actual ads and just felt amazing. They were of course ridiculous, but it just made them better. I loved them. By far my favorite part of the movie.
I also enjoyed some of the twists near the end. After all, the character has to make some pretty important decisions about his candidate, including throwing other people under the bus and possibly affecting their future just to get ahead in the polls. It could have dealt with these choices a bit better, but at least they were alluded too.
The acting wasn’t anything special by anyone, but the final speech by David Harbour to get his character out of trouble I thought was really well done/written. You go David Harbour.
Decent film, might hold your interest for an afternoon.