People I Know
List Price:
Our Price: $4.74
You Save: $15.25 (76%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Al Pacino, Kim Basinger, Richard Schiff, Ryan O'Neal, Téa LeoniBrand: Buena Vista Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Unknown
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-07-20
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Miramax
DVD Reviews of People I Know
DVD Review: A miscast misfire
Summary: 1 Stars
Problems with a feature film usually start with the script. "People I Know" isn't any different. The meandering script alternates between being a character study of the aging has-been publicist and a suspense thriller involving a secret (unfortunately) Jewish cabal which controls politics and finance in New York at the same time as its few members (a billionaire Jewish financier, a rabbi, a prominent Jewish doctor, and an ACLU board member) engage in a drug and sex orgy straight out of "Eyes Wide Shut."
The suspense thriller is the far more interesting part of the movie, though why it has to be a Jewish cabal, and thus play on the worst of the Anti-Semitic myths perpetuated by the "Protocals of the Elders of Zion," totally escapes me. But where this part of the story intersects with the character study is an obvious and total mess. The cabal wants back from Eli, the protagonist publicist, an incriminating recording of an "Eyes Wide Shut" evening. Eli carries it around in his coat pocket the whole time, but though the cabal doesn't hesitate to resort to murder and intrigue, and they even corner Eli in their headquarters and demand it, they don't bother to frisk him? It's truly bizarre, like two scripts which can't intersect logically.
As to the character study, it doesn't stand a chance by casting Pacino as the lead and the luminescent Kim Basinger as the widow who pursues him. I love Al Pacino most of the time, but he's too charismatic and strong to pull off a guy who is supposed to be something of a wet noodle who at the same time is doggedly single minded about keeping doing what he's always been doing (second rate publicist work). Pacino tries to accomplish this by feigning a Southern accent so pronounced as to make him sound more effeminate and silly than pathetic. To have Kim Basinger chasing after him and him not respond is so unbelievable that I thought at first he was supposed to be a closeted gay -- which would have been a fascinating twist-- and hence Pacino's effeminate drawl, but nope, it's just bad casting.
I have read some reviews of the film and it has now been explained to me that Eli is fighting a battle between old New York Jewish idealism and new New York self-interested egotism. Pacino doesn't pull it off and neither does the script. I watched the film closely and I saw little character issue with it. In the few moments when this is dealt with directly, the film falls back into its monotonous repetition that Eli is old and tired and doesn't know when to call it quits.
I read Ebert's interview with Pacino in which Pacino said he wanted the film done in an edgy, all digital style. That might have been an interesting way to watch Eli's descent. But that's not at all the way it was filmed. Whatever its budget, the film is glossy and sleek, looking like any first run theatrical release, and against this backdrop, Pacino's character just seems an overwrought, boring, illogical oddity, not a reflection of an inner turmoil.
Description of People I Know
Academy Award(R) winners Al Pacino (Best Actor, SCENT OF A WOMAN, 1992) and Kim Basinger (Best Supporting Actress, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, 1997) bring the star power to this powerful and provocative thriller! For old-school public relations kingpin Eli Wurman (Pacino), there's never been a crisis he couldn't fix or a scandal he couldn't handle ? until now! When Eli's best client (Ryan O'Neal -- MALIBU'S MOST WANTED) and his starlet girlfriend (Téa Leoni -- HOLLYWOOD ENDING) become tangled in a particularly messy situation, Eli ends up seeing more than he's supposed to. Now, the man who made it his business to know everything suddenly knows too much! With an unforgettable performance critics are calling one of Al Pacino's best, you won't want to miss a minute of this gripping motion picture.Bestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Author! Author!Fox; Release date: 2007-06-19; DVD
Best price: $7.24
Price in other shops:
The Human StainBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2004-07-20; Published: 2004-07-01; DVD
Best price: $4.75
Price in other shops:
Al Pacino - Pacino: An Actor's Vision (Chinese Coffee / Looking for Richard / The Local Stigmatic)by Al Pacino
Fox; Release date: 2007-06-19; DVD
Best price: $26.40
Price in other shops:
The Panic in Needle ParkPACINO,AL; Release date: 2007-06-19; DVD
Best price: $7.09
Price in other shops:
SimoneNew Line Home Video; Release date: 2003-01-21; DVD
Best price: $1.00
Price in other shops:
88 MinutesPACINO,AL; Release date: 2008-09-16; Published: 2008-09-01; DVD
Best price: $1.35
Price in other shops:
Two for the Money (Widescreen Edition)NBC Universal; Release date: 2006-01-17; DVD
Best price: $3.96
Price in other shops:
The Crossing GuardBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 1999-11-16; DVD
Best price: $1.49
Price in other shops:
The RecruitTouchstone / Disney; Release date: 2003-05-27; DVD
Best price: $3.13
Price in other shops:
Two BitsEBH; Release date: 2011-05-24; DVD
Best price: $2.67
Price in other shops: