242: Best Seller. An 80s and I do mean very 80s movie about a cop who doubles as an author who has his life invaded by a professional hit man who wants him to write a memoir of his life. He worked with a corporation to take out the competition. It could have been an interestingly done movie. As I was watching the credits, I saw that this movie had been written by the great Larry Cohen. Alright now I'm on board with an interesting plot and a great script writer. Was I in for a treat? Nope. No I wasn't. I later found out that the director John Flynn had heavily rewritten the script. It felt like it. This movie did not feel like a Larry Cohen film. This felt like a generic action film from the 80s with a very genial performance from James Woods. He was fairly good in this movie. This is hokey and then it takes a meta moment where James Woods asks Brian Dennehy to make him sympathetic in the book and eventually he becomes a more sympathetic person in the movie itself. I imagine there are moments here that clearly came from Larry Cohen's mind. That is probably one of them. The other performances in the movie leave a lot to desired including Brian Dennehy. He was a dull main character and he paled in comparison to James Woods even when they start to go for those odd couple moments. Overall this is a movie that can be missed and no one would even know it. I give this movie a D.

A good cast, James Woods in particular, and an intriguing premise were the main reasons for seeing 'Best Seller'. Seeing it a few days ago, 'Best Seller' turned out to be a good film with many great things with a few elements that bring it down somewhat.Woods himself is the film's best asset. Everything about him in 'Best Seller' is just mesmerising to watch, he epitomises cool, charisma and intensity. Brian Dennehy is dependably solid as rocks, a great performance that is more than up to Woods' level. Another reason why 'Best Seller' works as well as it does is the chemistry between Dennehy and Woods, which is electric. Paul Shenar has somewhat of a standard role but he brings an intimidating unscrupulousness that makes him effective in it. Victoria Tennant is good.'Best Seller' has a stylish and gritty visual look that makes it aesthetically pleasing. Larry Cohen takes a break from the quirky horror that he is better known for and shows that he is just as deft in thriller with a witty, intelligent and sharply observed script. John Flynn directs with the right amount of tension, keeping things at a brisk pace, not losing the effectiveness of the visual style and is pretty nifty with the action. The action is not tame, pretty hard-edged actually, neither is it gratuitous.For all 'Best Seller's' excellent things, there are short-comings. The music score is tacky and is stylistically at odds with the film. For a film that did such a good job with its atmosphere, 'Best Seller' was deserving of a much better ending than the rushed and too pat and safe one here.While a vast majority of the cast are fine, there is one exception...that exception is a rather annoying Alison Balson.Overall, a good film that sells well. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Writer Larry Cohen concocts this interesting, entertaining movie that mainly hinges on the often antagonistic relationship between two strong personalities. Brian Dennehy stars as Dennis Meechum, a cop who also writes books based on true crime stories, who is approached by Cleve (James Woods), a professional hit-man for an unscrupulous businessman, David Madlock (Paul Shenar). The hit-man feels inadequately compensated for his years of service, and is now an incredibly disgruntled ex-employee, enough to approach the cop / author to propose writing a book that reveals all the ugly details of the businessman's rise to the top. Capably directed by action specialist John Flynn ("Rolling Thunder", "Lock Up", "Out for Justice"), "Best Seller" tells a pretty good story in slick enough fashion, with some effective moments of very nasty violence. It also has very strong subtext about portraying a dark side to capitalism and corporations, as well as Cleve's own very dark version of The American Dream. It's well paced, with some potent scenes that establish what kind of man Cleve is. Yet, for a man who most of the time comes off as pure scum, he has definite intelligence and a real presence, and in the end does have a redemptive quality; it's the kind of role meant for an actor of Woods's abilities, and he plays it for all it's worth. But Dennehy is equally his match as the dedicated cop both disgusted with and intrigued by his new associate. Appealing Allison Balson plays Dennis's daughter, although supporting players Shenar and Victoria Tennant ultimately end up with not that much to do, and Shenar's character is not what you'd call subtle. Other fine players in the movie include George Coe, Anne Pitoniak, Mary Carver, Sully Boyar, Kathleen Lloyd, and Charles Tyner, with a too brief, uncredited appearance by Seymour Cassel as one of the bodyguards. Reasonably engrossing, with an ending that at least isn't 100% predictable, although some viewers may not find it terribly satisfying. But the interplay between two experienced and reliable movie stars makes it all worthwhile. Seven out of 10.

I have reached the conclusion that mainly fans of a particular film visit its respective page at IMDb. How else to explain this film's rating of 6.3 out of 10 stars? Sure, Dennehy and Woods work well with what they are given. But it is what they are given that is the problem.Best Seller is filled with "that would never happen" moments, which is fine if the premise is not to take it seriously. But there is every indication that this film wants to be a believable thriller.Cleve's (James Woods) story would best be told from behind bars, but for some reason Dennis (Brian Dennehy) allows Cleve to drag him all over the country in an attempt to prove that he was once a hit-man working for David Madlock so that Dennis can write a book about it. And along the way, Dennis discovers that Cleve is the one who shot him and a couple of his fellow officers in a robbery of a police evidence room 15 years earlier. Despite his knowledge that Cleve is indeed a dangerous killer, the fact that Dennis proceeds to share a hotel suite, visit Cleve's parents home (where Cleve puts a gun to Dennis' head in the middle of the night) or generally has anything to do with him outside of a jail cell is really absurd. Of course, the book will reveal the criminal empire of David Madlock. So naturally, Madlock is doing everything he can to prevent Dennis from publishing it. So while he is out of town doing additional research, would Dennis be so foolish to leave the mostly finished manuscript with his teenage daughter alone at home? Apparently so.There are many other examples, but my main point is that Best Seller is a cheesy 80's thriller with its share of plot holes along with decent performances by most of the cast (with the exception of Allison Balson - her acting was fine for Little House on the Prairie - but not so much here).So if you sit down to watch this movie, don't bring your disbelief or high expectations with you. It will make for a much better viewing experience.