User Reviews

It's hard to know how to react to this movie. I guess the most accurate description I could give it is that the experience of watching it was like having one of those dreams that's almost coherent and even approaches being cinematic, but has just a few too many non sequitur peculiarities, so intrinsic to any dream, that the whole mess just doesn't quite hold together.

Bizarrely, this movie has no shortage of reasonably name-brand actors. Matthew Broderick, Robert Forster, strangely beautiful Camilla Bell and even a small cameo with the legendary Robert Vaughn are in this movie, and they make no more impact upon it than a collection of talking head shots. Even Janeane Garofalo, whose presence in a movie usually elicits SOME sort of emotional response from me by virtue of the fact I find her so detestable as a person and an actor, doesn't make a dent in this picture.

And who is Greg Stuhr, the lead, and how did he get to BE the lead with so many recognizable actors relegated behind him as background scenery?

Only adding to the Kafkaesque sense of this movie are the collection of sparkling reviews from other viewers. Some of them as much as admit that they gave the movie a high review because they are either from or really like Buffalo or both. Alrighty then.

So how does such a peculiar, oddly distorted movie get made? I have a theory. Of course I do.

There are certain topics that just naturally result in cinematic peculiarities. UFOs, Loch Ness, Bigfoot and so on are just frequently going to result in movies that are a little pressed off- center. The organizers behind the movie are possessed of certain thinking patterns and cherished belief systems that are a little half-baked resulting in plot lines that are a little half-baked resulting in depictions that are a little half-baked. The underlying thinking is not rigorous or structured, with lots of gaps and holes that if carefully examined might result in some undesirable questions or illuminations, and so goes the picture that gets made. Nonlinear thinking and disconnected thought patterns unfettered by the notions of cause and effect, basic physics or plain old reality tend to result in peculiar scripts and, shall we say, "innovative filmography".

Nikola Tesla is DEFINITELY one such topic. His inventions, his insights, his intelligence and the events of his life are equal parts genius and nutcase. SOME of what he did was genius and so amongst the true-believers EVERYTHING he did was genius. SOME dirty tricks and manipulation and subterfuge were perpetrated upon him and so ALL his unrealized miracle inventions have been suppressed by "evil echelons". Lather, rinse, ad nauseam. People believe in Tesla like they believe in UFOs and Bigfoot and angels and a seemingly endless parade of conspiracies. The fact that a handful are true constitutes all the veracity needed for ALL the rest.

And you end up with a movie that was made by true-believers for true-believers. All the appropriate conspiracy checkboxes get ticked off in the context of the canon scenery. And then it's called "noir" to spackle over all the holes. And the crowd goes wild.

And while they may be name brand, if you re-examine that cast list, none of the "big" names are really all that big anymore. I'm guessing some of them needed the money. Looking at many of the scenes with the name-brand actors in them, and making note of the isolated context and the blocking, I often get a distinct sense of, "I go on, I get off, I get paid."

Watch the scene with Robert Vaughn and see what feeling YOU get about it.

As an exercise, see if you can get a grip on what the "unlimited energy of the ionosphere" and their description of the use of "the life energy" in the "tin man" project actually MEANS. Had to get an insider reference to Kirlian auras in there SOMEHOW, didn't we? And for bonus credit, stand on any busy street corner and yell "free energy" and watch what happens.

If you're a fan of this kind of "thinking", I BELIEVE you'll probably love this movie. Proof is for party poopers. Say it with me.

For the rest of us, it's pretty much confusing or irritating or both.

This film was simply awful in what was intended as an action-thriller. Instead of being fast-paced, it was laboriously slow. Instead of thrilling, it was dull. The plot was so convoluted that the viewer lost track of the different characters and story lines. I'm only guessing due to the confusion of the screenplay, but my viewing suggested that the characters' main goal was to discover notes about a scientific breakthrough left by the visionary physicist Nicholas Tesla in the area of unleashing energy.

The focus of the film was on a beleaguered private detective, who becomes enmeshed in the Tesla plot. The characters and relationships are so poorly developed that it is impossible to care about the detective or anyone else. The most insipid of the characters was a brother-sister team that was apparently out to control the world with the Tesla invention. Matthew Broderick was terrible in the role of the brother.

Somehow, the filmmakers were able to attract several well-known actors (Robert Vaughn, Jeanine Garofalo, and Robert Forster) for cameo parts. But the film as a whole was poorly acted.

The film style was also amateurish with endless repetitive shots of the detective clambering into his car. The set-ups and camera angles were atrocious. As the setting is Buffalo, there was an attempt made to get some action sequences around Niagara Falls. But once again, the editing was so bad that the scenes around the falls were never credible.

It is truly shocking to contemplate how this project ever received a green light and how it now has made its way into slots in Redbox machines. Instead of the title "The American Side," this film should have been called "The American Turkey."

Some reviewers complain that it's hard to follow the plot – but isn't this typical for film noir? Besides, if you watch the movie again (or only the scenes that made no sense to you), you will notice that there is no puzzle. The whole thing about barrel-crossing the Niagara over the American side is just a subplot that is not important for the main plot. The main plot goes like that: we have several parties that want to obtain both parts of Tesla's note. Some might want to destroy them, some are seeking for the knowledge of how they fit together and what they mean. In the end we see that Charlie has both parts in his lighter: one on the front, the other on the back. Of course Nikki Meeker has put it in there. Remember? She "stole" the lighter from him before. Now the light of the pinball machine and ta-da: Tesla's potentially "world-changing" note in it's entirety. Then the phone call for Charlie. But that's part of The American Side II ... which, of course, will never be realised. I kind of liked the movie, but it was not enough serious Tesla in it. I give it a 7.

The story and dialog are a total jumble. It's difficult to follow because there was clearly only a vague vision, and the execution shows no skill in leading the audience there. It's clunky. You end up with a lot of coolish-sounding lines from our hard-boiled protagonist, but most of them seem like non-sequiturs. The way the plot unfolds is a series of too-great coincidences, while all the while I can't even understand which parties are involved. And playing off the notoriety of Tesla feels like a cheap gimmick. Truly a crap movie. Maybe the bones of the story could have been saved with a clever rewrite, and the production values, cinematography, and actors were on point, but it just falls so flat on its face pretending to be smart. It's not even so-bad-it's-good bad; it's just bad bad.

I'll give a few examples:

Camilla Belle puts her hand on the table, and Matthew Broderick swings a hatchet and barely misses it. What? Why would anyone do that as a gesture? What point is that meant to underscore? Trust? That's a stupid way to prove that to a stranger. No one would do that. It's clearly just a heavy-handed attempt to make you believe Matthew Broderick is the bad guy and Camilla Belle is the victim. It's out of nowhere. "My sister wouldn't steal from me because she knows that if she did the retribution would be Biblical." Who needs a visual aid like that?

And then it's followed by "What kind of a man would betray his sister's trust? ... We're family Mr. Paczynski.", and he responds with "That's a gene pool screaming for chlorine.", which is kind of a clever line but doesn't make any sense in the context, because it's rude to both, but he likes one of them at least. And it's so obviously inorganic that it entirely takes you out of the moment. It doesn't fit. It's clearly prepared.

And then he's suddenly washing his face, and he looks up and ahead like he's looking in the mirror, and they do that thing where they put the mirror off center, so they can capture his reflection without getting the reflection of the camera, except they put the mirror way too far to the right, and the lines of the tile make it super obvious he's just staring straight ahead at tile instead of at the mirror. It's goofy.

The tech they're supposedly after isn't in the least convincing. How does an energy field make a super soldier?

He eventually finds out Matthew Broderick isn't the villain, and then he goes screaming for Nikki at some power station. Why does he expect to find her there, even if it was near Tesla's old original hydro power plant? And then there are some guys in suits again. Why are they there? And then they chase him to the end of a long jetty. Why the did he go that way instead of in a more sensible direction? Then next thing we know he's in a barrel going over the falls. Why? Where did those guys produce the barrel from? They clearly didn't have it during the chase. How did they steal it from that other guy? Since our man wakes up in it, I guess they knocked him unconscious off screen? Did they want him to die but wanted to make it look like an accident? What's their motivation for this?

Then in the final scene Camilla Belle says "Your friend Kat got in the way too." It sounds like she's implying that killing wasn't an accidental byproduct of trying to get Soberin, but it doesn't make sense she'd intentionally target the stripper who happened to be there, so it's sloppy to have that in the dialog.

Why are they even next to the falls for this final dramatic scene? Where are they even going? They at one point lock a really hefty gate behind them, but it takes Paczynski all of one second to get through it. How?

It's just constant. The movie is a complete narrative mess. It's unsurprising that the main actor is also the writer. My guess is this whole thing is some kind of misguided vanity project.

The genre known as "film noir" is probably as popular now as when it reached it's heyday in the 40s and 50s. Described as films that were "marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace" the genre was best represented by films like DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE THIRD MAN and THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE. It almost always had a flawed hero who more often than not ran afoul of the law and in some instances lost not only the girl but his life as well. Attempts have been made to replicate the genre, some good and some bad. THE American SIDE does a good job covering the style but at times gets too confusing for its own good.

Charlie Paczynski (Greg Stuhr who also helped write the screenplay), is a private eye in the Niagara Falls area who makes a living helping set up the spouses of his clients and then taking pictures he can use to blackmail them with. While never stated you get the impression this wasn't always the way but what he has turned to in an effort to make a living now. With regular assistant Kat, a dancer at a local gentleman's club, he gets the pictures he needs with ease. Until one night when he hears gunshots and sees the car she was in disappear.

Charlie then begins a search for Kat trying to find out what happened to her. As he does so he finds himself drawn into more than he bargained for. As he begins his search he's hired by a woman named Nikki Meeker to find a missing person. Following leads from Kat's last meeting he tracks down Tom Soberin (Harris Yulin), the man she was with only to find that the man is the missing person he was looking for. A brief meeting at the falls and minutes later Soberin is found dead.

Things get even more complicated when Charlie is approached by a young woman in a dark alley for help who claims to be Nikki Meeker. As if this weren't confusing enough Charlie soon finds himself talking to a reclusive millionaire business partner (Robert Forster) who knew Soberin, a brother and sister pair (Matthew Broderick and Camilla Belle) who were his partners and interested in Soberin as well, learns more about what is really going on from the real Nikki Meeker and is approached by a strange government agent with ties to DARPA.

All of it revolves around a discovery made by Nikolas Tesla decades in the past, a discovery worth killing for. It seems that when Tesla died the FBI swept into his home and took away all of his documents and work that was left. With the exception of a missing notebook. Now a single page from that notebook is the main focus of every character in the movie. But all Charlie wants to do is find justice for Kat and stay alive at the same time.

Confused? Actually what you've read so far will make things clearer for you if you watch the movie. While watching it if you deviate from the film for just a moment odds are you'll find yourself scratching your head wondering what happened and what is going on. Even odder is that while you'll find yourself lost more than once in this movie it won't make a difference. It still offers an entertaining film that is well made and gives you more story than any ten multi-million dollar films from the Hollywood factory. When it was over I found myself wondering what I had just watched while at the same time thinking maybe I'd like to watch it again.

The number of cameos in the film makes you believe that the actors involved at least thought they were making something good. In addition to those mentioned Robert Vaughan makes a brief appearance as Soberin's neighbor and MURPHY BROWN's Grant Shaud is a victim of Charlie's that happens to be a scholar of all things Tesla whose help is quite handy. Then again maybe the names are bigger to me than many young people will recognize today. Stuhr does a great job in the lead, at times reminding me of films made by Burt Reynolds when he was much younger.

If you're willing to take the time to watch and pay attention this movie mystery may be right up your alley. But don't watch it while doing laundry, while the kids are running around the room screaming at each other or while painting your toenails. You have to stick with it. If you do you might find yourself enjoying the film and rediscovering a genre that isn't replicated well very often.

I read some good critics about this, and despite that I don't like all those Tesla conspiracy and suppressed inventions theories (rather sick fantasies), I decided to watch it - hey, Camilla Belle is in, and she made some good choices (scenarios). It was just pain to watch. Almost nothing made sense, and I will remember nothing (except bad taste) in month from now. Will not talk about plot, acting - does not deserve it. Just few words about some Tesla related things said: Main character did not hear about Tesla before getting involved in this - someone can believe that ? "Tesla invented 20-th Century" - that was less stupid, because may be seen as partially right - electricity is base of most modern technology. But then some talked about computers, cellar phones and like. No, no way that Tesla could imagine whole cellar phone concept over 100 years ago. It is possible only with digital technology. Then that unlimited free energy - beloved topic all time. But they screwed even that, turning to some supersoldier, with code name Tin Man. That was lowest part, together with abysmal and unoriginal final scene.

Originally, the only reason I selected it was because I am from the Buffalo area and love everything Buffalo-Niagara. Any time I get to see home is always great. The locations are used for no real specific purpose that I can understand. Why would anyone jump off the Lockport Erie Canal locks?

The actors are fun in a film noir kind of way. There is no real fluidity for their entrance or exit. The plot is mediocre with hollow dialogue. It builds to almost nothing and then ends. No real noir climax. I really enjoy the noir cheese and would definitely recommend for a displaced WNYer looking to see home. Otherwise, I'd have never stopped to watch this.

Take a heavy drinking, down on his luck, chain smoking private eye, who lives in his office and the reminds you is who? I'll give you a hint, there was an annoying cartoon rabbit named Roger in it. That's right Eddie in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" which was a significantly better movie.

In this disaster we have Charlie who talks fast, has the fat, greasy, and bald cop as a frenemy, and too many hot girls he's not getting any tail from. He wears Hawaiian shirts with ties, and blackmails his stings into buying the pictures the wife already paid a certain amount for to prevent her from seeing them.. He uses a stripper who ends up disappearing on a sting with some old as dirt scientist who is some genius as smart as Einstein, but is dealing with Tesla.

Now add in Robert Vaughn (The "Original" Man from U.N.C.L.E) as this scientist 85 year old neighbour who will fight Charlie while wearing a collared shirt, tie, his boxers and lederhosen. Then add Matthew Broderick as the wealthy but stupid, worst bad guy who has some sexual game he plays with his hot as the sun sister. The add this scientist's assistant who is apparently smarter than he is (whatever happened to Igor) and you get.. but wait..

Let's take yet another professor who was being blackmailed by Charlie and make him Charlie's friend who helps him evade bad guys. Let's take Jeanine Garafalo as a faster talking FBI agent , or is she? Add the Serbian version of the FBI (at some point not long ago was known as the KGB) and to top it off.. a billionaire daredevil who has designed what has nothing do with the plot but everything to do with the title of the movie and you find out what "The American Side" really is.

It is something I'd prefer a root canal over then watching this.