The Deal

There's too much of that inside-baseball talk, and too many ridiculous plot turns that require intelligent people to make really stupid decisions, just so the suspense can be sustained.

Epstein and Kahn might have been better off leaving the assassinations, kidnappings and cliffhangers to Grisham and made a simpler, more realistic movie about a desperate young banker juggling deals and trying to stay afloat.

Far from the real deal when it comes to even a modicum of plausibility on a politically hot topic.

The elaborate suspense revolving around the toxic mix of oil, money and politics that the media only ever seems to brush the surface, makes for heady viewing.