People are voting emotionally.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This is a highly underrated movie in my opinion. Based on the experiences of Hollywood interns Swimming with sharks is a fictional account of an intern who is subjugated to daily abuses by his boss. It is a satire but Kevin Spacey is in such good form you start taking it personally. It is shocking that the writer-director George Huang's career never took off because this is a well written screenplay and shot with expertise. Give this film a shot if you wish to understand the ruthless world of Hollywood filmmaking.

Ill-tempered, verbally abusive movie studio chief runs his male assistant ragged with nit-picking requests, keeping the young man firmly under his thumb with constant threats of unemployment; after a year of office-terror, the working stiff finally cracks. Writer-director George Huang has possibly bit off more than he can chew here. His "Swimming With Sharks" isn't a diatribe against Hollywood, nor is it a tribute to the hard-working underling...instead, it's stunt film-making with a twist, a one-trick pony with tunnel-vision. The surroundings don't look or feel like Tinsel Town (perhaps due to a limited budget), and we never get a sense of this stressful environment as a movie-making entity (it could be a realtor's office in the Valley, for all we know). Lead Kevin Spacey, who also served as one of the film's producers, gives a controlled and focused performance as the power-mad mogul whose ego is out of control; he does good work, and yet the character doesn't ring true. We learn so little about him and his acquaintances that his important position and high-ranking status fail to jibe with what we do see; who does this man answer to? what drives him beyond humiliating others for sport? what projects is he juggling aside from the one script we see passed around? The film is so emotionally stunted and underpopulated, it begins to seem like a stage-play padded out for the big screen--and yet one without enough characters or motivations in it. Perhaps Huang wanted to keep things simple, but instead his movie looks like a half-baked project which needed a lot more insight, humor and atmosphere. ** from ****

Billed as a comedy, "Swimming With Sharks" rarely came close to that description. It's really a biting satire on corporate greed and climbing the industry ladder literally on the backs (and bodies) of others. I never had a boss from hell of Buddy Ackerman's dimensions, but probably came pretty close. I recall a closed door argument between a company vice-president and one of his subordinate directors, and the underling was no guy/Guy like Frank Whaley's character. You could hear the two yelling at each other across the office before the thing settled down. Fortunately it was so early in the morning most of the staff wasn't in to work yet, but it was quite the show for anyone there.Kevin Spacey excels in an early starring role as the sadistic Buddy Ackerman. The thing is however, he exhibits a disconcerting aura of warmth and humanity at times that runs counter to his normal behavior. His is not the role model they talk about in business school, in fact it was almost refreshing to hear his diatribe about having to work one's way up instead of expecting to start at the top with an expectation of entitlement.You know, for some odd reason I had the impression that Guy was going to shoot Dawn (Michelle Forbes) instead of Buddy, seeing as how he had already endured a year of Buddy's vengeful and abusive behavior. It comes as a shock to most viewers, but if you're going to take a film like this to it's limits, it only makes sense that Guy was going to ensure his career path by going the extra mile. It's called having a job to kill for.

Swimming With Sharks is original and daring, but very uneven. I've always been a sucker for films about filmmaking and Hollywood and as such I was willing to let a lot slide, but it had a few too many ups and downs, starting out with a very problematic and ambiguous mix of comedy and tragedy; it then reaches its peak in the second half, when it turns more and more into a full drama; but then disappoints with the ending. And without that ending, it would have been a truly singular film. As it is, it's still an interesting one well worth a watch, if only for Kevin Spacey's performance in the second half, that turns from over-the-top ham to utter and nasty subtlety.