Review of Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) by Ben L — 22 Jan 2016

If nothing else, you have to give Glengarry Glen Ross some credit because it does an amazing job of making the slimiest of salesmen into sympathetic characters. You somehow find yourself dying for a poor schmuck to get tricked into accepting a real estate deal that he probably can't afford and doesn't want in the first place, simply because we want to see the salesman get a win.

The script gets some of the credit for that aspect, but I think even more of the credit has to go to the amazing cast of actors. Each one of these guys can pull off so much in their performances that you can simultaneously hate their actions and yet like them as people.

I think the empathy is formed throughout the film, but it is amplified in the scene where Alec Baldwin outdoes himself with one of the most ridiculous and yet amazing speeches in movie history. This raises the stakes for the rest of the characters and does a great job of giving us a vision of who is the real bad guy.

No matter how bad the other characters behave we understand because at least they aren't like Blake. Kevin Spacey was perfect as the manager who could be in over his head with all these salesmen that have more experience than him, and yet he holds his own and can give it back as easily as they dish the punishment out.

Al Pacino, Alan Arkiin, Ed Harris, and Jonathan Pryce all crush their performances as well. I could just go on and on about every single person in the cast, but instead I'll just focus in on how totally awesome Jack Lemmon is in Glengarry Glen Ross.

I don't have words for the perfection in his performance. In each conversation he shifts to the situation and perfectly shows us the quality of his sales skills, and yet we can always sense the underlying despair that drives him.

There's not much else to talk about with this film because it is almost 100% character driven, and the plot is rather basic. I enjoyed the film, and can see why it is critically praised, I'd certainly recommend it to others for a good example of an acting tour-de-force.