This political thriller about illegal oil trading, the Russian mafia, and government conspiracy is well done, and deserves a much better rating and credit than people give it. It is not amazing by any means, but its solidy acted, written well, reaches some very important moral and political ideas without being completely illogical and unrealistic (of course its not real, but it very well could be). Slater was good as tom hanson and i liked Robert Loggia in the supporting role as Jared TOlson, the film has good cinematography from Adam Sliwinski and editing by Richard Schwadel. Overall good effort from harvey Kahn, better than a lot of high budget films, amazing how this film probably cost a couple million to make max (perhaps 5-10 mil after slater gets his cash)...--- IMDb rating: 5.1, my rating: 8/10

Director Harvey Kahn was completely deprived of any inspiration in bringing to screen this political thriller story, happening in the corridors of the big corporate companies dealing with dirty oil deals, in a close but probable future where the western world is immersed in a war with the Arab oil-rich countries.Nothing can really save this production. The screenplay is routine and full of stereotypes, not batter in complexity than a mid-level TV movie. Acting of Christian Slater is fair, and Selma Blair getting full time screen is quite promising as an actress, but not enough to carry the film higher. Directing is mediocre, it keeps the conflict being obscure and confusing at the start, does not make anything happening on the screen more clear or more interesting later, and moves the camera in a neutral and dry manner.Routine stuff, nobody would have been sorry if this film was not made.

Slater stars in and co-executive produces this film, which means they got to use both his likeness and his money to try to help this film succeed, and it still flops. The movie is second-rate (or worse) in virtually every respect. With the exceptions of some of the names in the credits, this movie has almost no redeeming qualities, and of course the credits occur right at the beginning of the movie, so it's all down hill from there.Loggia's a solid character actor, and Slater's decent playing the same character he always plays. Even though he's 36 now, he looks like he should be drinking a Shirley Temple during the bar scenes. Blair is a stone, and an anorexic-looking, awkward stone at that. She has no talent that I can detect, with a delivery that has all the depth and warmth of a petri dish. Think Keanu Reeves, only less attractive and with boobs. Very small boobs. She's also 32, not young enough to play the recent Harvard grad she's supposed to be. Angie Harmon is gorgeous, but unimpressive as an actor, and no one else in the movie gives any sort of memorable performance.Blair's character's romance with Slater's is completely unbelievable, as there's no chemistry between them, so the audience is left thinking "What did I miss?" when the two of them suddenly start kissing for no apparent reason. Evidently the romantic music playing on the soundtrack while they sat in meetings with clients was supposed to demonstrate the build-up of their amorous feelings. It didn't.The plot is the one thing this movie should have going for it, given the current state of gas prices and the war in Iraq, but it's such an obvious parallel and so close to home that it's too easy to dismiss, thereby undermining the entire premise of the film. Not that the poor writing, poor direction and poor acting do much to revive it, but this Deal should have died on the table.

Saw this film last night in Chicago, and more should see it before it disappears from the theaters (not many people there last night--looks like there's been no pub for the film). Anyway, it's a real insider's perspective on our energy situation and the really nasty scenarios we're headed into if we don't get our act together. But it's not a sermon--it's quite entertaining. Both Christian Slater and Selma Blair (a revelation) are great in it as a principal and an idealistic associate at a white-shoes Wall Street mergers & acquisition firm who are supposed to do due diligence on a merger between a major US oil company and a Russian one against the backdrop of an all-out Middle East oil war and $6.00/hour gas prices. Robert Loggia is perfect as the CEO of the US firm, Kevin Tighe is very convincing as the head of the white-shoes M&A firm, and Colm Feore is terrific as the proverbial corporate snake-in-the-grass out to sabotage Slater's deal.