''The Chosen One'' is a 2010 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by and starring

Rob Schneider Robert Michael Schneider (; born October 31, 1963) is an American actor, comedian, and screenwriter. A stand-up comic and veteran of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'', he went on to a career in feature films, including starri ...

as a

car salesman The automobile salesperson is one of many sales professions. The automobile salesman is a retail salesperson, who sells new or used cars. Unlike traditional retail sales, car sales are sometimes negotiable. Salesmen are employed by new car de ...

facing a midlife crisis with the aid of native Colombian shamans. It also stars

Steve Buscemi Steven Vincent Buscemi ( ,As stated in interviews by Buscemi himself, some may insist that his pronunciation of his own name is "wrong" because it does not match the original Italian pronunciation as well. It is not uncommon for people to pronou ...

Holland Taylor Holland Virginia Taylor (born January 14, 1943) is an American actress. She won the 1999 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Judge Roberta Kittleson on ABC's ''The Practice'' (1998–2003). F ...

, and

Peter Riegert Peter Riegert (born April 11, 1947) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Donald "Boon" Schoenstein in ''Animal House'' (1978), oil company executive "Mac" MacIntyre in '' Local Hero'' (1983), pickle store owner Sam Posner in '' ...

Plot

A depressed car salesman (

) is repeatedly interrupted in the act of suicide by a coworker from the Nissan dealership, a beautiful woman translator (

Carolina Gómez Carolina Gómez Correa (born 26 February 1975) is a Colombian actress, presenter and model, who held the title of Miss Colombia 1993 and placed 1st Runner-Up at Miss Universe 1994. Pageantry Señorita Colombia She won the Miss Colombia title ...

), three native American shamans of the

Arhuaco people The Arhuaco are an indigenous people of Colombia. They are Chibchan-speaking people and descendants of the Tairona culture, concentrated in northern Colombia in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Name The Arhuaco are also known as the Aruaco, B ...

from the mountains of Colombia, and a phone call from his mother (

). He finally finds faith in himself after the rest of world puts its faith in him. The sole being on earth who can save mankind from its own destruction with trust - The Chosen One.

Cast

as Paul *

as Neal *

as Ruth *

as Bob *

Samantha Smith Samantha Reed Smith (June 29, 1972 – August 25, 1985) was an American peace activist and child actress from Manchester, Maine, who became famous for her anti-war outreaches during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. I ...

as Christine *

George Dzundza George Dzundza ( ; born July 19, 1945) is an American television and film actor. Early life and education Dzundza was born in Rosenheim, Germany, to a Ukrainian-Jewish father, Roman Dzundza, originally from Kalush, Ukraine, and a Polish-Jewish m ...

as Norman * Jack McGee as Produce Manager *

Michael Yama Michael Yama (November 14, 1943July 30, 2020), was an American actor who has regularly voiced for GI Joe. He has been on ''The X-Files'', '' Just Shoot Me'' and '' Lois & Clark'' and he starred on '' Betty White's Off Their Rockers''. Prior to hi ...

as Mr. Nakamuri *

as Marissa * Pamela Guest as Bird Lady * Antonio Miguel Calvo as The Mama Arhuaco * Alberto Villafana as Arhuaco Jim * Yesid Villafana as Funny Arhuaco * Ian Fisher as Cabbie

Production

Release of the film was delayed for three years; this may have been due to uncertainty over how to market the film, as this movie which is primarily dramatic was inaccurately marketed as a straightforward comedy. The movie was eventually completed and released direct to video by Chosen One Productions RS LLC.

Reception

Critical response

Film Critics United, a pseudo-anonymous on-line movie review website, wrote that Schneider gave a good performance, but the film failed due to other factors including its muddled plot. Brian Orndorf described it as an attempt at a more serious dramatic role, but was critical, finding the film a failure. Qwipster found the narrative "lazy" and the plot too bizarre to take seriously, scoring it 2/5 while praising Schneider's restrained performance. DVD Verdict gave it a middling rating.

Lawsuits

There was a lawsuit from Schneider's collaborator Bob Rubin in 2008 over a fee he felt he was due for helping to arrange financing for the film. In 2012, Schneider, his brother John Schneider, and the film's production companies (Chosen One Productions RS LLC, Chosen One TWF LLC, and The Chosen One RS LLC) were sued by financial backers to recover a $1.5 million investment. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants had breached contracts with the plaintiffs and fraudulently induced the plaintiffs into investing in membership interests in one of the film's production companies. George and Nancy Gamble, a married couple, say that in 2008 they were persuaded to invest $1.5 million to complete postproduction work on "The Chosen One," and claim they were never repaid. According to Schneider, "The claims are flatly contradicted by the language of the contracts. The laintiffsmade an investment in the movie, with no guarantee of success." On March 6, 2013, their lawsuit against Rob Schneider was moved from San Francisco to L.A. Superior Court. Legal counsel for Rob Schneider said in a statement: "The Gambles’ lawsuit is frivolous. The Gambles made an investment in the film, with no guarantee of success."

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chosen One 2010 films 2010 comedy-drama films 2010 direct-to-video films 2010s English-language films American comedy-drama films American direct-to-video films Direct-to-video comedy-drama films Films directed by Rob Schneider Films scored by Jeff Rona Films with screenplays by Rob Schneider 2010s American films English-language comedy-drama films