I didn't care for this (SPOILERS)

When I saw the trailer, I thought this was going to be a really fun, tense thriller. As the film went on, I liked it less and less.

The set-up is cool, with ultra-dick Elvis coming off very "Howard Stern" (loving family man, on-air prick, ruthless businessman, etc.) At its best moments, it has a little bit of Oliver Stone's (far superior) Talk Radio, but it never lives up to the power and tension of that film. Honestly, if the movie had tried to do more of that - give us more of the office politics and on-air insanity of a shock jock trying to fight for time slots and listeners - we'd have had a much better, sharper, (darkly) funnier movie.

But with the thriller portion, it starts to go off the rails. During my viewing, I remember sighing, thinking that it suffered from the frustration of the omnipotent villain. Some movies make their bad guys so powerful that they're just using the script itself as a weapon. Gary, the psycho caller, seems seven steps ahead of everybody, the cops don't seem able to beat him, he can somehow drag around two hostages and fight off multiple people, etc., etc.

Of course, with the big plot twist (I admit: didn't see it coming) we learn that this is all just an act. But, even then, it's like the worst parts of The Game, where you're thinking, "Okay, *nobody* could orchestrate this." There are too many variables. One example: all the listeners would be calling 911 and either getting blown off or told it was a prank. They'd spill the beans. Another? The cops would *never* go for this. Another? Elvis beans the "thief" with a vase, but it was unplanned. We could go on. It doesn't make sense from any angle.

Worse, the twist (for me) cheapened everything and was just shy of "it was all a dream."

Of course, the second twist I saw coming a mile off and I was just waiting for it.

It wasn't a shocking twist ending, it was just... disappointing. The movie starts strong, slides downhill, and then just whimpers off a precipice. I really wanted to love it, too...

The worst part? They didn't even set it up. Outside of Elvis ripping on people, they don't show him pranking *anybody*, so the idea that he's escalated up to this crazy point doesn't seem plausible.