Suckers Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

Suckers Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf September 5, 2020

The world of used cars has been explored before in film, with 1980’s aptly titled “Used Cars” using the unscrupulous behavior of salesman and their lust for money to inspire a farce about the business and all the crooks involved in it. The Robert Zemeckis feature had a lot of fun using exaggeration to manage unpleasant business, with star Kurt Russell delivering one of his best performances as an auto lot hustler who can’t help himself when it comes to opportunity. For 1999’s “Suckers,” co-writer Joe Yannetty offers a more realistic take on the car sales game, putting years of experience on the page for co-writer/director Roger Nygard, who tries to transform the awfulness of the industry into an approachable picture highlighting a collection of reprehensible characters. It’s a tonal tightrope walk Nygard can’t complete, but “Suckers” does have a lived-in feel that keeps it compelling for its first half, presenting an insider look at the gamesmanship of being a salesman, where nothing is off the table when comes to completing a deal.

At Southside Auto Sales, nothing is prized more highly than money. For boss Reggie (Daniel Benzali), the only thing that matters is separating customers from their cash, spending the business day pounding on his employees to get out there and sell cars, using whatever underhanded tactics they can. New to the business is Bobby (Louis Mandylor), who’s struggling with employment issues, with wife Donna (Lori Loughlin) demanding he bring in a paycheck. He’s also hounded by loan sharks who need their money back, forcing him to learn the auto sale business. Trying to master a routine, Bobby grows in the role, taking customers for everything he can. However, outside pressures mount, with the loan sharks pushing him to commit a major crime to repay his growing debt.

Nygard is best known as the director of “Trekkies,” an amusing documentary about “Star Trek” fandom and its extremity. He uses the same fluid filmmaking to arrange “Suckers,” which tries to present some level of realism, tracking Bobby’s entrance into the Southside gang, getting a full blast of authority from Reggie, a vicious man who doesn’t suffer fools. He’s actually the lead character of the script, highlighted at the Obi-Wan of car salesman, overseeing a weekly meeting to reinforce psychological gamesmanship and teach the crew how to creat confusing deal scenarios to best dupe the customer into a purchase. Reggie is always screaming, and he also happens to be a deplorable human being, making sure to be as racist and misogynistic as possible while encouraging a hyper-masculine office atmosphere. He’s a creep, but the screenplay loves spending time with him, often rushing through what little plot there is to reconnect with Reggie as he enjoys wielding unrelenting hostility.

Scenes of salesmanship make up half of “Suckers,” watching the Southside team engage with customers. Some buyers are belligerent, others are too soft, with the team trained to deal with anything that comes their way, hungry for a signature on a financing contract. Shenanigans are present, including one sap who takes a test drive into the desert with a beautiful woman, only to be targeted for seduction and, eventually, theft. Bobby’s journey factors in here somewhere, with the dim man feeling the rush of success, making money for Reggie before he starts to understand what he’s actually doing with these customers. It’s a failed arc of enlightenment for many reasons, with Bobby too one-dimensional to really offer any dramatic weight to the production, and Nygard tends to encourage comedy with the sale sequences, making a left turn into guilt abrupt and formulaic. Additional moviemaking blunders occur when a salesman from Afghanistan learns his sister has been murdered back in his homeland, with “Suckers” suddenly interested in emotional weight after spending an hour highlighting men with no scruples trying to cheat customers and engage with one another using all manner of broheim hate. It’s perfectly acceptable to create a picture about loathsome people, as long as they’re interesting. Yannetty’s attempt to make these personalities likeable doesn’t work at all.

Suckers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Billed as an "All-new 4K remaster," "Suckers" makes its Blu-ray debut with an AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation. After years circulating on VHS and DVD, the movie emerges with renewed freshness for HD, with the viewing experience reaching the limitations of the original cinematography. Detail is excellent, with sharp facial particulars that showcase age and exhaustion, with Nygard loving his close-ups, offering extended looks at the characters in motion. Interiors highlight defined signage and decoration, preserving the office atmosphere, and costuming is fibrous. Exteriors provide a dimensional look at lot inventory and street action. Colors are direct, with vibrant primaries that do especially well with clothing and automobile colors. Signage is also distinct. Moodier lighting registers as intended. Skintones are natural. Delineation is satisfactory. Grain is fine and film-like. Source is in strong condition, with only a few single-frame scratches and blotches.

Suckers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix offer mild immersion, electing for more frontal engagement with the viewer. Dialogue exchanges are precise, with marvelous clarity and emotional nuance, and while conversations always explode into yelling matches, balance is tight, without slipping into distortive extremes. Scoring is inherently thin but moods are supported with mild beats and synth work. Surrounds provide some sense of atmospherics, best with room tone and exterior adventures, dealing with community bustle and street activity. Low-end is minimal at best.

Suckers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features co-writer Roger Nygard, co-writer/actor Joe Yannetty, cinematographer Nathan Hope, and composers Jimmie Wood and J.J. Holiday.

• Deleted Scenes (1:55, SD) are a revelation, detailing two moments with Bobby and Donna's daughter, who was completely cut out of the film.

• Raw Takes (7:28, SD) offer uncut performance moments from the picture.

• And a Trailer (1:52, HD) is included.

• Bonus Movie: "Six Days in Roswell" (81:14) is a 1999 documentary from director Timothy B. Johnson and producer Roger Nygard. It's presented with a new 4K restoration, along with a 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio track and no subtitles.

• Commentary features producer Roger Nygard, director Timothy B. Johnson, and host Rich Kronfeld.

• Making Of (19:36, SD) explores the development and execution of "Six Days in Roswell."

• And a Trailer (1:34, HD) is included.

Suckers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Nygard seems to be hanging on for dear life with "Suckers," abusing hand-held camerawork, fumbling with humor, and adding a few bits of softcore porn to liven up the viewing experience. Storytelling is tepid as best, finding Bobby's path to enlightenment blocking the view for most of the movie. A last act turn into a crime saga is also ill-advised, with Yannetty trying to transform the feature into a Quentin Tarantino experience (like so many screenwriters before him), bending the plot into a collision course for different goons and their guns. What begins as study of workplace pressure and playful(?) antagonism ends in a mass shooting, which only adds to the overall confusion of "Suckers," which has the raw materials to venture into the seedy underbelly of the auto sales experience, but it never fully knows what it wants to be.