Just the Ticket
February 23rd, 2010 by dennis
Amazon.com
Gary Starke (Andy Garcia) is New York City’s supreme scalper. Tickets for the Knicks, MOMA, the pope–you name it, he can get it. To mainstream society, however, Gary doesn’t exist. He doesn’t work 9 to 5, he doesn’t have either a driver’s license or a Social Security number, and he isn’t even sure he was born in a hospital. Just the Ticket, Richard Wenk’s wonderfully understated, well written and ultimately touching romantic comedy, is the story of how Gary finally finds id…
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February 23rd, 2010 at 6:00 am
In the movie, scalping was made out like it was a big crime. It’s not
Rating: 1 / 5
February 23rd, 2010 at 6:07 am
He’s a devil-may-care scammer without a future. She has a lot going for her, a superb talent in the kitchen; She needs him like a hole in the head.
Suspend all belief and enjoy.
Rating: 3 / 5
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:00 am
JUST THE TICKET, is definitely not a waste of cash as a movie
rental, although it’s debatable whether the audience will enjoy
being taken on the highs and lows that this story tells, of a
ticket scalper (black market ticket reseller.) It does work
well, as a rental.
The story is a homage in part, to the illegal alien population
of the USA that numbers in the 10 to 20 million, who have no ID
papers, having been born outside the country or in
circumstances that didn’t allow them to get papers. As such,
they have to hustle in jobs offering little or no job security,
such as reselling services on the streets, in a cat and mouse
game with law enforcement, and this affects their personal
lives, that often are in chaos.
Starring Andy Garcia, who is present in almost every frame of
this film, and bears a tremendous responsibility in carrying the
film’s entertainment value, and Andie MacDowell who plays the
undecided girlfriend (but who is not to be underestimated as an
actress) the picture entertains from beginning to end, with some
tasteful music and interesting shots of NYC streets.
It also brings to light some aspects of mid-life crisis that
some humans feel, when they realize they haven’t met all their
life dreams, goals and aspirations that they had set for
themselves in a prescribed period of time.
It also tells of the struggle, commercially, that merchants and
hustlers face from new competitors, who on occasion manage to
pay bribes to certain urban police officers to cover their
protection rackets and black market operations to get the upper
hand. A 2.5 for this movie, almost a 3, considering many will
find it too depressing for the theater or to be watched more
than once.
Rating: 2 / 5
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:50 am
Andy Garcia completely owns the screen in every scene. His performance here is enough for anyone to buy this movie. But, alas, there are problems with his supporting actress Andie Macdowell. The whole movie she looks like a deer caught in high-beam headlights. It is particularly noticeable whenever she “shares” a scene with Mr. Garcia. There is one scene where it’s her big moment, her “look at me and see how talented an actress I am” moment, when Andy Garcia completely downplays the scene and through subtlety and nuance buries Mrs. Macdowell and steals the movie from under her. Another scene, a pre-love-making stare-down between the two stars is almost laughable. Andie Macdowell is frozen while Andy Garcia nearly melts the celluloid with his eyes. It’s as if Mrs. Macdowell realized at some point that she was just no match for Mr. Garcia, went limp, and planned her follow-up project. She has talent, just not in this movie. Try “Dinner with Friends” to see what she’s really capable of. All said, this movie would have been better off without a love-interest sub-plot. The lives of the myriad professional scalpers was more than enough to keep me watching. The seedy underworld they inhabit while just trying to make a living was very interesting. Overall, this was a surprising and mostly rewarding film.
Rating: 4 / 5
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:03 am
A very beautiful story, characters who make us fond of them and an excellent casting. Andy Garcia is sublime and Andie MacDowell, brilliant. you’ll find in it humour and emotion. It makes us spend a great moment. I’ve bought it and it’s worth doing it !
Rating: 5 / 5