Michael Caleo's background in writing for television shows in this flimsy little flick that despite a solid cast comes across as tired retelling of the bad guy to good guy to bad guy sequences. There are some good one-liners in the film, with a script that is so peppered with the 'f' word that it is crippled by it, but the story has been done before and much better and this time around the 'twist' is obvious from the film's opening lines.
Goofus-doofus Midwesterner Jaime (Brendan Fraser) has moved form Ohio to New York with his gorgeous girlfriend Belisa (Amber Valletta) to join a sales company whose chief salesman is foul mouthed, ill tempered Ted (Michael Keaton) who appears to loathe everyone and the world. Jaime is assigned to Ted, but Jaime's level of intelligence borders on idiocy and his fate with the company seems doomed...until Jaime introduces Belisa to Ted...and the romantic fireworks start. Ted falls for Belisa and begins to change his outlook, confiding his inner spirit as a professor of English literature to Belisa. A transformation takes place and as Jaime spirals downward while Ted and Belisa's affair ignites, role reversal happens as a not at all surprising plot unfolds.
Michael Keaton is a fine actor and makes the best of this mouthy role, but Brendan Fraser's talents are completely wasted - a hint from the start that all is not as it appears... It is a mediocre movie and even if the audience doesn't turn off the soundtrack to rid the script of the trashy language, it can become insulting to the intellect. But again, Keaton helps it float. Grady Harp
