AntiTrust

ANTITRUST

Rating: B

Tim Robbins plays Gary Winston, billionaire CEO of a software development firm named NURV. Despite his dorky hair and glasses, and his propensity for delivering pompous speeches about "futuristic vision," Robbins' character is NOT supposed to be based on Bill Gates. So get that silly idea out of your head right now. Anyway, NURV holds a monopoly on the software market, which breeds much bitter resentment among the idealistic college-age computer users of the world. Also, NURV is being prosecuted by the Justice Department for its monopolistic market practices. Like I said, purely fictional.

Ryan Phillippe is one of those college-age computer users, who also happens to be a genius at something called "group theory algorithms." If you don't know what group theory algorithms are, you're probably not a genius. But Phillippe does and is, which makes him an attractive candidate for recruitment by Microsof - er, NURV. Against the wishes of his computer geek friends, who want his high-wattage brainpower for their own startup software venture, he falls for Robbins' charming pitch, and comes aboard NURV just in time to bail their latest and greatest project of integrating a worldwide satellite network out of hot water. But as time wears on, he becomes increasingly suspicious of how Robbins is obtaining the brilliant computer algorithms he keeps dropping in Phillippe's lap. Then when Phillippe's best friend is brutally murdered, the evidence points to a sinister connection.

The best part of this movie occurs when Phillippe is being courted to come to work for NURV. It's The Firm all over again, of course, but for some reason I'm a sucker for stories where kids who busted their humps in college are courted by a dream company when they graduate. Call it a guilty fantasy of mine. Greatly aiding in the effect are all the attractively exotic building interiors courtesy of production designer Catherine Hardwicke. NURV genuinely seems like a cool place to work. At first, anyway.

Even as the story becomes more and more implausible, director Peter Howitt keeps an exciting edge on the action. There's a scene where Phillippe suspects his girlfriend (Claire Forlani) may be trying to kill him which will probably have you on the edge of your seat. And the film's title takes on new meaning as Phillippe constantly reevaluates who he can trust and who he can't. It makes deliciously good paranoia even if it's a bit far-fetched.

Someone connected to this movie desperately wants us to drink Pepsi. Three separate characters are shown guzzling Pepsi products at one time or another, and there's a room we see on two separate occasions which is all but empty save for a Pepsi vending machine prominently on display in the background. After the second time, I glanced down at the Coke in my hand and flipped the screen the bird. I trust you would have done no less.

Whatever the plot had going for it falls completely apart in the final reel. Without giving too much away, let me say either the screenwriters have a lot to learn about satellite communications and television broadcasting, or they think the audience is completely clueless on the subject - take your pick. Either way, the ending wraps things up way too conveniently, and is a very unsatisfying finish. Then Phillippe delivers this Godawful speech about how knowledge should be free, every program should be open source, and how the entire world should exist just to cater to his every whim at no charge. Okay, he didn't really say that last thing, but I bet he was thinking it. It's sure to give you ugly flashbacks of the stupid self-serving statements uttered by the defenders of Napster. So forget about it and go drink a Pepsi.