AntiTrust

Bill Gates is a murderer, according to this ludicrous but guilty-pleasure thriller. Yes, at one point, the film's archvillain, Nurv software CEO Gary Winston (Tim Robbins), mentions Gates as a rival, but the line is a joke between the filmmakers and the audience -- from ruthlessly defending himself at a trial before Congress to acting like a Muppet in a Nurv commercial set in a minority-filled classroom, Winston couldn't be anybody but Gates.

Trying to meet a tight deadline for some program that does something revolutionary, Winston hires boy wonder Milo Hoffmann (Ryan Phillippe), one of those idealistic, open-source code geeks. At first, Milo is wowed by Winston's seeming benevolence (and a company car), but soon he uncovers Nurv's cutthroat side -- and it's all being run out of the company's daycare center. As Milo tries to put the pieces of a friend's murder together, the ridiculousness mounts: we see past scenes run ferociously through his head; a whirling camera indicates his frenzy; and faux techno blares whenever something exciting is about to happen. Claire Forlani plays his girlfriend, and Rachel Leigh Cook is his ally at work -- or are they??? Silly stuff, but did Orson Welles have the balls to suggest Randolph Hearst was killing competitors to get ahead? At the Holiday, Hoyts Providence Place 16, Showcase, and Swansea cinemas.
-- Mark Bazer