In order for the American Side to work, even a little bit, it's essential that you know nothing about Tesla, the man who developed alternating current. Because if you know of him, you'd know that he had no such dream of creating the mcguffin that drives the movie. Because the premise is ridiculous, the lengths to which various individuals and groups go to acquire the plans is simply not believable. But this movie has other shortcomings besides. To advance the plot, the protagonist, a down-in-the-mouth gumshoe who drives a Dodge Dart, is given entree to daytime cocktail parties and evening soirees where he is able to chat up the rich who for some reason feed him bits and snatches of what they're up to instead of simply calling the cops and having the guy thrown out. The movie is also replete with coincidences and characters whose function is to provide knowledge so as to advance the mystery, but whose fortuitous appearance stretches credulity. For example, the boat owner who hired our hero early in the film and to whom our hero returns in one of his hours of need just happens to teach physics and knows all about Tesla. There's more, but it's just too silly.

There are two things going for this movie.1) Film noir tropes. If you like that sort of thing. 2) Shots of Buffalo. If you're from Buffalo, like Buffalo and don't feel like going outside, maybe you will enjoy this.I almost added the Tesla history to the list. I love Tesla and this played a role in my decision to see the film. Unfortunately, the movie became so fanatically ludicrous over Tesla I'd rather they left him out completely.The movie is otherwise awful. Painfully obvious is that the movie is essentially various characters walking up to Greg Stuhr and saying their lines to advance the plot. In this aspect it's just like an elementary school play, only with Matthew Broderick instead of your six year old. The plot makes less and less sense as the movie plays out and becomes increasingly hostile to common sense and logic. Much of the movie flits around to various locations in Buffalo for absolutely no rhyme or reason except to squeeze in as many Buffalo shots as possible. There is no exposition and no character development. Not a single character receives any real treatment during the film. At the end, the only names I could recall were of the lead actor and Nikola Tesla, who wasn't even in the movie.Overall, it's the type of product you might see from a film student who was only admitted to film school because someone on the admissions committee was snorting coke. Fun Fact: Actress playing government agent was The Bowler in Mystery Men.

I had an amazing time watching this noir film at a film festival in my city. They don't make movie's like this one anymore. I liked everything in it: the plot is slightly complicated, but compelling; the characters are portrayed beautifully, by both some recognizable actors and the unknown ones; there is a Tesla angle in the story which makes me even more like the movie because I am a Serbian :) (Tesla was a Serbian too BTW); the movie leaves it up to the audience to fill in the gaps, so I guess that is the reason why some people won't like it as much as I did. I highly recommend the movie to all the detective/mystery genre fans, give it a chance, you won't be disappointed!

The American Side is terrific. In classic noir fashion, a wisecracking and, shall we say, ethically flexible private dick (an utterly charming Greg Stuhr) finds himself fighting the forces of corporate evil in the person of a queasily convincing Mathew Broderick. The movie is fast and brash, lovely to look at, and has a scene involving a human going over Niagara Falls that simply can't be missed. Like all good detective stories, there is a mystery to be solved, and this one involves a secret invention of the great polymath Nikola Tesla. There are codes to be broken, family intrigues to be sussed out, and of course the small matter of a potentially unstoppable army that has to be stopped. It's Tesla, man, the inventor of some truly dope stuff. If you don't know who Tesla was, I suggest you go find out.