AntiTrust
by Hank Yuloff

Tim Robbins is good, but can he save this convoluted tale of geek paranoia?

Usually the bad guy gets it in the end, sometimes not (Hannibal Lecther from Silence of the Lambs lives for another movie).

Less often, the good guy gets it in the end (no one did it better than John Wayne).

Because of this rule, that everyone subconscious knows and follows, Antitrust can be difficult to watch. Not because it is a bad movie, but because you have a good feeling that some how the lead character, Milo Hoffman (Ryan Phillippe - from Cruel Intentions), is going to bring down the villain, Gary Winston (Tim Robbins).

Look at it as a David vs. Goliath kind of thing.

The story: NURV is a big Microsoft kind of company that is about to launch a better than the Internet alternative to instant communication using any platform (computer, phone, television). But they are behind schedule so Winston starts hunting for the new wonder kids who are about to graduate college.

Enter Hoffman and a few of his buddies. They are about to launch their own garage startup - along with the high minded, open code feelings that can go with it.

Winston evidently makes a sales pitch that is so strong, he lures Hoffman away from that startup company to come help with the project.

My thoughts at the time:

-Must have made him an offer he couldn't refuse, including a Mercedes SUV.

-Hoffman must be one amazing mind to be able to jump right into a years old project and start turning out immediate results (roll out time is in 6 weeks).

As happens all too often, things then go seriously wrong (Sorry, no more plot lines here).

Antitrust is not high drama, but has enough bells and whistles to be an enjoyable story. The acting is pretty good, with Robbins turning in a good performance as the not-Bill-Gates CEO. Claire Forlani plays "the girlfriend." Not as strong a character as she had in Meet Joe Black, but she does well. Rachel Leigh Cook plays Lisa Calighan, a computer geek that no other geek can get to first base with, but she immediately hits it off with Hoffman (hmmm, what's the deal with that?). Cook was stunning in She's All That and that anti-drug commercial where she tears up a kitchen, using scrambled eggs to show your mind on drugs. Still stunning. Can't wait for Josie and the Pussycats.

I'd probably wait to rent this film. Judging from its opening weekend, it seems most of America agrees with me. (Remember our motto at FW: We see them so you don't have to) If you rent it, you can stop the film to read the technical stuff on the screen and see if it makes sense. I imagine we'll hear all sorts of things from our computer geek buddies.

Antitrust didn't live up to my hopes. It's kind of like having a Pentium 1 when you expected to get a Pentium 3. Fast, but not quite what you were expecting.

Hank Yuloff is an entertainment industry entrepreneur living in Hollywood. He uses a computer, but won't tell you which pictures he downloads.