Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer (2016)

just watch it!

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Richard Gere continues his recent run of shady people which allows him to give another freewheelin performance of a man on the edge of something.Here Gere plays Norman, a veteran fixer in the Jewish business community. He is marginalised, still searching for that big break.Norman makes an acquaintance of a minor Israeli politician Micha Eshel on a trade visit to New York. Norman buys him a pair of shoes, three years later Eshel becomes Prime Minister of Israel and on a visit to the USA, he greets Norman like an old friend.The publicity opens doors for Norman in New York as he uses his connections with Eshel to further himself and various associates in the community. Trouble looms as Eshel is embroiled in a bribes scandal and Norman unwittingly realises late in the day that his big mouth has caused all the trouble.The film directed by Joseph Cedar is slow to take off. He paints Norman as a loser, a verbose bull artist who embellishes the truth because he just wants to feel important about himself rather than financially benefit himself. Gere again laps up a part like Norman, now aged he feels freed from the shackles of being a rom com sex symbol.

Writer director Joseph Cedar studied philosophy and history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and is a graduate of New York University's film school. He is rather new to the film industry but his mark is clear - making films that explore human nature and the manner in which we interact as people and as countries (in this case the Us Israel relationship). He knows how to create solid characters and has the ability to attract quality actors to make his dreams visual.Norman Oppenheimer (Richard Gere) is the President of New York based Oppenheimer Strategies, a one man business doing consulting work largely in American-Israeli business and politics, that focus due to being Jewish (Focus: Israeli minister Micha Eshel played with enormous sensitivity by Lior Ashkenazi). Most of his work is as a fixer: doing work that others don't want to do and with which they don't want to be officially associated. In reality, Norman is a shyster, and not a very good one at that. His office is comprised of his cell phone and whatever is stuffed in his satchel that is usually slung over his shoulder as he wanders the streets. What he promises is making connections, setting up a meeting between his guy and the other guy under the guise of connections with significant people. All he needs is for one of the people that he approaches to believe a story to build that network. Not so much a story, but an act of kindness with that ulterior motive does eventually pan out as the connection of which he could have only dreamed. He is able to build off that connection to become the toast of the town, a status upon which he tries to parlay into being an even bigger fish in the pond. But the greater his exposure, the greater the potential scrutiny about him as a person, which could bring his fragile network come crumbling down around him.In addition to Richard Gere's finely tuned performance other members of this memorable cast include Lior Ashkenazi, Michael Sheen, Steve Buscemi, Josh Charles, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Dan Stevens, Tali Sharon among others. There is much more to absorb form this fine film than the rise and fall of the main character - just when we need to hear all aspects of the Israeli situation.

Norman Oppenheimer is a small time operator who befriends a young politician at a low point in his life. Three years later, when the politician becomes an influential world leader, Norman's life dramatically changes for better and worse. The Cast of Norman is very talented and the actors try their best but the film is uninteresting and so boring it literally fried my brain. It's one of those awful movies where critics say that it's amazing or something but it's truly slow paced and just boring and it's not interesting from start to finish, the characters are one dimensional. If you're into dumb films that are slow and basically like to loose 2 hours of your life go ahead it's that kind of movie.

Watched two names this evening - "Wilson" & "Norman". Both showed exaggeration, humor & satire to showcase characters. In "Wilson" Harrelson continues to improve these past few years in conveying unique & interesting characters. But, this is about "Norman" & Gere in that role. The first unusual aspect to this largely Jewish supported film is the recognition that Palestinians from an educated, objective & ethical pov deserve the freedom of their own land. Second, that connections and then money determine much more the direction of political actions than is often acknowledged. Third, kudos to the writer/director in bringing us a unique split screen pairing of characters. Smooth, and not disruptive to the flow of the film; captivating way to show communication between characters. Fourth, how our mysterious facilitator meets the youthful future. And, last you know that peanuts could possibly play a role in our closure. As an aside this is one of the rare films out of NY that didn't follow dumb formula (e.g. rom-com) storyline. It was actually funny- intelligent.