Knife Fight (2012) User Reviews

Campaign spin

[Prismark10 · 4/10 · 13 January 2016]

There have been recent political campaign movies such as The Ides of March which had a more heavyweight cast. There are classics such as Robert Redford in The Candidate. Knife Fight reminds me of Sidney Lumet's Power from 1986 which also had a high calibre cast but a tepid reception by the critics and at the box office.

Rob Lowe plays Paul a highly sought after, cynical and ruthless election strategist. He declares, 'To win in politics, you have got to be the person who is willing to bring a gun to a knife fight.' Which is something Sean Connery said in The Untouchables before being shot a 100 times!

Paul can deal with any political disaster presumably such as those handled by the campaign team who dealt with Bill Clinton when he ran for Presidency the first time round, when his team realised that their was hardly any woman left in Arkansas that he had not slept with. In fact Chris Lehane, one of the co-writers was an aide to Clinton and Gore.

Paul deals with winners and over the years he has become jaded, cynical and has little time for people who are altruistic.

Things change when he takes on a doctor who runs a free clinic as a candidate for Governor and who tweaks the last shred of idealism left in him. Otherwise there are the usual politicians running for elections who are philanderers or are caught in some embarrassing situations that Paul needs to spin out.

The film is underwhelming and never strongly registers as the script is limp. Lowe underplays his role but apart from Carrie Ann Moss's idealistic character the rest of them are shallow and mean and they are supposed to be liberals as well.

As a political satire it does not work as it is not funny or biting enough. Even with story of the doctor you can guess the twist rather easily.

Could you withstand the scrutiny

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 21 August 2020]

Some years ago I had a ood Assemblymember representing me in Albany. At least he epresented my point of view aboit 95% of the time. He got caught up in a sex scandal and managed to survive it for two more election cycles.

Watching Knife Fight I thought of him immdiately and it occured to me we lose a lot of good people who get caught up in these things. A lot of good people also never go into public service because they don't want their lives under a microscope. How many of us could withstand the scrutiny?

Rob Lowe and Richard Schiff veterans of West Wing star n tis political drama about a pair of political operators. Lowe has some idealim, but does what he has to for his candidates. Schiff prefers the low road in any event.

The film is scene through the eyes of their new employee Jamie Chung and by the end of the film she has learned her lessons well.

Their three candidates rnning for statewde office Lowe's firm is managing and all have crises of a sort. Eric McCormack the governor of Kentucky who is a Bill Clinton like figure whose libido may get the best of him. David Harbour a Senator from Massachusetts who made one indiscretion that could cost hi his career. Finally my favorite from nife Fight, Carrie Anne Moss an idealistic doctor who runs a medical clinic who wants to be governor of California and for all the right reasons.

Moss is my favorite from the film, but it is a well cast and directed piece ofwork. And one of te most realisti political films out there.

Decent Political Picture...

[MovieHoliks · 6/10 · 11 June 2015]

I dunno if it's an old saying I heard in politics someplace -or- the movie "The Untouchables"-?? LOL -something about being sure to bring a gun to a knife fight- something like that-??

Rob Lowe returns to "West Wing" territory in this story of a political strategist juggling three clients who begins to question whether or not to take the high road as the ugly side of his work starts to haunt him. I definitely enjoyed this movie- for it's look at the nasty underworld of politics, and the performances of it's leads- especially Lowe and Carrie- Anne Moss. She plays a doctor who decides to run for office, and ends up becoming a celebrity/hero. "West Wing" co-star, Richard Schiff, re-teams with his old co-star, along with Julie Bowen, Jamie Chung, Saffron Burrows, Jennifer Morrison ("House") and Eric McCormack ("Will and Grace").

Knife Fight with Battle Hymn of the Republic

[stock-1 · 5/10 · 28 May 2014]

To get elected in office, according to 'Knife Fight', all which is found outside the conventional playbook of politics should be given opportunity, for the good candidate to become governor elected. Even if there's collateral damage attached to the level of having a college girl's life ruined, upto attempted suicides. The far-out morals choices reported today in Washup DC Politics have apparently spread out to Nation, State and County Politics Campaign affairs, where the subversion apparently has sunken back to the level of Roman Empire days, when Julius was stabbed by Brutus. The mantra of fighting crime by hiring even more dangerous criminals is something which has today infected all kinds of aspects of life, where by all means good, bad, legal and or violating state laws, will give the good Lady or Lord the much aspired seat if High Office. This is the theme which is extensively illustrated inside 'Knife Fight' where the end result seems OK. There is one downer though. When the end titles run a small parody of the Battle Hymn of the Republic is played. This is sadly one step beyond the much admired seat in the office of Hollywood fame.

Good

[manitobaman81 · 7/10 · 22 August 2014]

The audience gets is a casserole of movie elements and little of the satisfaction that comes from watching these types of movies. It's one of those films for which I could guess the plot exactly before I saw it. You can predict the whole movie and ending easily. Worse, these characters were walking cardboards. Overall, the film was..."eh". I was bored through most of it and I left the living room with no intentions to ever see it again. From an artistic standpoint, there were some plot elements and character developments I didn't think were totally needed. They do however drive the story, which seemed to be their purpose, so I can accept them.

It's dangerous to believe your own nonsense

[xhidden99 · 24 June 2017]

The first rule of satire is remember that it's satire. Because there are three types of political movies. One, the Mr Smith Goes to Washington true believer movie; two, the anti political nihilist flick like The Parallax View and lastly, the satire. The two points you have to include in a satire are a, humor and b, a broad sense of farce. The problem this movie has is that it started with the goal of being satire but halfway through it drank the Kool Aid and capitulated to becoming Mr Smith. By the end, the people we're supposed to be poking fun at have become moral crusaders for the forces of good and all the things we were poking fun at have become virtues. It's neither one nor the other but a watered down mixture of both. The dirty tricks and outright crimes they commit are swept away as nothing more than data points on the road to moral supremacy. If your cause is just then not only do the ends justify the means but the dirtier they are the more virtuous the end. So without understanding how or that it is this movie becomes the most nihilistic of them all.

West Wing on a shoestring, minus the wit

[wannall · 5/10 · 8 May 2015]

As a big fan of West Wing (in spite of its heavy doses of Democratic propaganda), I recognized very soon where we were in this movie, and was happy to see West Wing alums Rob Lowe and Richard Schiff together. I thought a couple other faces might have been familiar from there, too, but nothing happened to make me care enough to go check. This is more like a fan-made "next episode" of something similar to the West Wing than like a well-developed movie project, though that's slightly more on the writing and directing end than on the acting and technical end. It isn't actually awful, but it certainly isn't that good. There's no heavy lifting to do, and perhaps as a result all of the performances seem fine but nothing rises above "fine". Nothing here challenges the performers or the director, or us, and so they, and we, just settle in for a pleasant ride.

There's no particular reason to see Knife Fight, but if you like the type of story (look at the awful things we do in election politics!) you may want to see it just for completeness. There's also no particular reason to avoid Knife Fight. Nothing in it is truly bad. However, now I wish I had just watched the far superior Ides of March (2011) again instead. Ides is an excellent modern look at the same topic also well treated in Robert Redford's The Candidate (1972). Knife Fight is not in the same league as either of those, but it is playing the same game.

If Candidate and Ides are the bookends, then Knife Fight is one of the books they hold up. I suppose that just as we have murder and romance stories written for beach reading, there could be political movies for beach watching, and this would be a fine entry there.

There's more that could be said, but honestly, how much time do you spend analyzing your beach novels?

Better for the little screen

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 28 October 2013]

The real question that this film asks is: where does Rob Lowe really belong? On the big screen or the little screen? And while I was watching this film I couldn't help but think that I was watching a little screen star trying to act on the big screen. And he simply doesn't quite make it. Oh, it's not that he's a bad actor. In fact, he's pretty decent. But I felt more interested in him as a television star (such as "Brothers & Sisters"), than in having to pay 8 bucks to watch him on the big screen (although apparently this film never made it to many theaters).

Carrie-Anne Moss (as a doctor running for governor), Jamie Chung (as Lowe's assistant), Richard Schiff (as a slightly less than respectable assistant), and Julie Bowen (as a reporter) all do fine...although none turn in performances that have you aching to see them again on the big screen. Eric McCormack, perhaps, was best here, as a Kentucky governor running for re-election.

The story was decent -- Lowe runs a political service mostly for politicians in trouble...and clearly a Democrat. He begins to have some pangs of conscience as he realizes his job has become too much about winning, and not enough about what is actually right. There's a little too many scenes of Lowe and his assistant driving in a car...but I guess that makes a cheap set.

There's not much to complain about here, or to applaud. It just felt better if you took if for...well, let's say a cable t.v. movie, rather than a big screen flick. Julie Bowen as Peaches O'Dell

Sharp high for Lowe

[Stephen_Bourne · 5/10 · 24 March 2013]

Knife Fight (2013) | USA, 100 minutes, Rated 14A (ON) NR (QC) | Reviewed 03/13, © Stephen Bourne

Rob Lowe returns to the big screen as San Francisco-based veteran political spin doctor Paul Turner in this unabashedly wry yet plodding mild satire from director Bill Guttentag. In Knife Fight, Turner callously juggles damage control duties handling the separate scandalous affairs of incumbents California senator Stephen Green (played by David Harbour) and Kentucky Governor Larry Becker (Eric McCormick), until an unforeseen consequence of Turner's Machiavellian scheming and media manipulation results in pangs of unsettling conscience.

There are several clever moments of wonderfully insightful dialogue found throughout this 100-minute screening. Stanford University professor Guttentag's work in documentaries has garnered him five Academy Award nominations and two Oscar wins, and his co-writer on this project, Chris Lehane, reportedly earned the title "Master of the Political Dark Arts" after serving as spin doctor for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign and White House administration. Lehane and Guttentag also co-wrote the 2012 behind-the-scenes book The Masters of Disaster: The Ten Commandments of Damage Control. They know the landscape of contemporary American politics. You see it in this film. Sitting through Knife Fight, I couldn't help wishing the comparably over-hyped and pedantic The Ides of March (2011) had been this woefully overlooked, often fascinating feature.

Lowe is incredible here, effortlessly carrying this picture while nailing his performance as charismatic yet oily Turner, skilfully manipulating public opinion by any means necessary to save his high profile clients from themselves. Top marks also go to McCormick's wryly underplayed effort as philandering Governor Becker, Jamie Chung as Turner's able and ambitious young intern Kerstin Rhee, and Richard Schiff's part playing Turner's muck-dredging go-to connection Dimitris Vargas. Surprisingly, many of the remaining supporting roles feel less memorable. Carrie-Anne Moss plays Bay Area Mission Clinic doctor Penelope Nelson, eager for Turner's help in winning her own political bid, but her character and that story line seem so entirely peripheral and unnecessary to this movie the way it plays out. I might have been happier if Moss had played a slightly modified take on blackmailed war vet Senator Green instead of the Dr. Nelson role, for instance.

However, the most glaring flaw with Knife Fight is that Guttentag and Lehane's screenplay has a tendency to grind to an unforgivable snail's pace whenever the movie feels the need to indulge its long-winded Liberal musings about American politics and those involved. We know this flick is a satire. We get the point that greed is a humorous duality within human nature that can create and destroy with equal and conflicting force. The characters have just illustrated that. We laughed, they cried, it was better than Cats. Why then is it necessary for Turner to explain to Rhee what we've just seen? More than once! She's not stupid. Neither are we. Much. So, doing so becomes redundant, preachy, and boring.

Speaking of boring, the official website at knifefightmovie.com/ is possibly the poorest aspect of this contemporary feature. No synopsis. No cast and crew blurbs. Just a bland, basic page with links to YouTube, Facebook and twitter, and a lame scrolling gallery of random photos, all dominated by the film's politically-themed logo. Ooh, a logo! One that's not even used on the hokey poster. Lame. I guess it's a given that fans know by osmosis more source info can be found online at either the production company Divisadero Pictures or distributor IFC Films' sites. Too bad, Knife Fight and its cast deserved a better marketing effort than this trite flip of the bird to a potential ticket-buying audience...

Definitely not an hilariously rollicking satire for anyone outside the cutthroat arena of politics, Knife Fight is still an insightfully satisfying piece of entertainment over-all and a great new big screen high for Lowe, McCormick, Chung and crew well worth checking out as a rental. Reviewed 03/13, © Stephen Bourne.

Knife Fight is rated 14A by the Ontario Film Review Board for limited use of slurs, coarse language, partial or full nudity in a brief sexual situation, illustrated or verbal references to drugs, alcohol or tobacco, embracing and kissing, tobacco use, and restrained portrayals of non-graphic violence, and is Not Rated by la Régie du Cinéma in Québec.

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Tags: Knife Fight, Rob Lowe, Jamie Chung, Carrie-Anne Moss, Eric McCormack, spin, scandal, politics, satire, moviequips, Ottawa, movie, review

Don't pay to watch it

[pshea1128 · 2/10 · 18 October 2016]

This movie is pretty much what you'd expect from liberal Hollywood. They get their share of cheap shots in at conservatives, Tea Party, etc. The campaign staff try to convey they pull dirty rotten tricks for both sides and then have an epiphany by the end of the movie. Hillary Clinton's real-life campaign corruption makes renting this movie a complete waste of money and makes this movie look like a complete fairy tale. I have to write ten lines of text for the review, so here I go. Not one of Rob Lowe's better movies. There is really nothing shocking about their behavior or low-life tactics unless you are an ill- informed, low information liberal.

Getting a Bad Rap

[phillybug_23 · 8/10 · 13 July 2013]

Brilliant! An awesome political movie; if you didn't like Rob Lowe before this, you will! This isn't a political drama where the stage is set on the candidate being in your face; the main focus. You won't see all the bells and whistles, big budget fight & gun scenes, and worn action dialog. Rather, this is a political drama built around dialog and characters. The main characters aren't the machine; moreover, the main characters are the cogs that run the machines. The reason comparisons to Primary Colors or Game Change doesn't work is because only thing in common/related is the political storyline. After watching there is a slight bias; however, Worth a DEFINITE watch!

The director is a little too much in love with his characters

[fredrikgunerius · 5/10 · 18 August 2023]

Rob Lowe gained experience delivering political babble in The West Wing, and in this idealized satire about the workings and techniques of political strategists, he puts that experience to good use, delivering his quick-witted lines in typical Aaron Sorkin-ish tempo and tone. The film delivers a few jabs at the American political system, especially campaign advertising, but when push comes to shove writer/director Bill Guttentag is a little too much in love with his characters and their flaunting talent for the film to have enough edge and make a lasting impression. And while the narrative structure is semi-fresh and the agenda well-meaning enough, there's really not much progress or development to incur during the course of these ninety plus minutes. This may well be the filmmakers making a point by paralleling politics, but if so, it's as slight a point as there ever was.

A brilliant film is "Knife Fight"

[dhaufrect-1 · 9/10 · 9 May 2015]

"Knife Fight" is a brilliant film from 2012. And it is currently available on NetFlix Instant Download Streaming. The Director is Bill Guttentag. The writers are Bill Guttentag and Chris Lehane. Actors include Rob Lowe, Amanda Morrison, Julie Bowen, Jamie Chung, Carrie-Anne Moss, Saffron Burrows, David Harbour, Frances Shaw, Eric McComack and Vanessa Ross. Brilliant! An awesome political movie; if you didn't like Rob Lowe before this, you will! This isn't a political drama where the stage is set on the candidate being in your face; the main focus. You won't see all the bells and whistles, big budget fight & gun scenes, and worn action dialog. Rather, this is a political drama built around dialog and characters. The main characters aren't the machine; moreover, the main characters are the cogs that run the machines. The reason comparisons to Primary Colors or Game Change doesn't work is because only thing in common/related is the political storyline. After watching there is a slight bias; however, Worth a DEFINITE watch! Dale Haufrect

Realistic political films...

[RosanaBotafogo · 8/10 · 16 June 2022]

Realistic political films that show behind the scenes, the gears of the truncated backstage of politics, tend to be boring and rotten, but here we have more rottenness surrounded by romanticism, good narrative, dramatic, even cute, with a hopeful bias, in a breath of honesty , almost languishing, good performances, questionable morals, laughable cliche in the third and last act, but I like extremely convenient and fake dramas, in short, politicians are honest, citizens are not always...

It was a scary political film

[bbfrmrp · 8/10 · 7 September 2019]

It was an interesting film. It is really scary that it really happens. No one ever is tells the truth it is just a worked out before they even open there mouths. Rob Lowe was great.