''Zipper'' (also known as ''Reckless'') is a 2015 American

political thriller film A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle, high stakes and suspense is the core of the story. The genre often forces the audiences to consider and understand the importance of politics. The ...

written and directed by Mora Stephens and starring

Patrick Wilson Patrick Joseph Wilson (born July 3, 1973) is an American actor and director. He began his career in 1995, starring in Broadway musicals. He received nominations for two Tony Awards for his roles in ''The Full Monty'' (2000–2001) and ''Oklahoma ...

Lena Headey Lena Kathren Headey ( ; born 3 October 1973) is a British actress. She gained international recognition and acclaim for her portrayal of Cersei Lannister on the HBO epic fantasy drama series '' Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), for which she re ...

Dianna Agron Dianna Elise Agron ( ; born April 30, 1986) is an American actress and singer. After primarily dancing and starring in small musical theater productions in her youth, Agron made her screen debut in 2006, and in 2007, she played recurring charac ...

Richard Dreyfuss Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (; born Dreyfus; October 29, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for starring in popular films during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, including ''American Graffiti'' (1973), ''Jaws'' (1975), ''Close Encounters of the T ...

Ray Winstone Raymond Andrew Winstone (; born 19 February 1957) is an English television, stage and film actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Winstone is perha ...

, and

Penelope Mitchell Penelope Mitchell (born 24 July 1991) is an Australian actress best known for playing the roles of Letha Godfrey in the American horror television series ''Hemlock Grove'', and Liv Parker in ''The Vampire Diaries''. Early life Born in Melbourn ...

.''Zipper'' at Cargo Entertainment
Twitter / DiannaAgron: A five AM pickup is always a little early....but it's good to be working. #Zipper
/ref>CAPE Congratulates Mora Stephens on ZIPPER
/ref> The film had its world premiere on January 27, 2015 at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

. The film was released on August 28, 2015, in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

in the United States and through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

Alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

. The film follows a federal prosecutor running for office who cannot stop himself from sleeping with high-class escorts, putting both his career and his personal life at risk.

Plot

Sam Ellis is a man on the rise—a hot-shot prosecutor on the cusp of a bright future. When an intern at the office becomes infatuated with him, Sam unwisely attempts to quiet his desires by seeing a high-class escort—only to discover that the experience is more fulfilling and exhilarating than he could have imagined. A second appointment with an escort soon follows, and a third, sending his once idyllic life spiraling out of control. In the midst of wrestling with his demons, he suddenly finds himself being groomed to run for the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

—thrusting him into the public spotlight, and forcing him to take increasingly dangerous measures to keep the press, the law, and his wife off his trail.

Cast

as Sam Ellis *

as Jeannie Ellis *

as DaliaTwitter / DiannaAgron: This girl. Dalia. #Zipper
/ref> *

Alexandra Breckenridge Alexandra Hetherington Breckenridge is an American actress. She began her career with supporting roles in the teen comedy films ''Big Fat Liar'' (2002) and ''She's the Man'' (2006). She later played reporter Willa McPherson in the FX series ''D ...

as Christy *

as Laci / Jennifer *

as George Hiller *

as Nigel Coaker *

John Cho John Cho (born Cho Yo-Han; June 16, 1972) is an American actor known for his roles as Harold Lee in the ''Harold & Kumar'' films, and Hikaru Sulu in the ''Star Trek'' rebooted film series. Early in his career, Cho also starred in the Asian Ame ...

as EJ *

Billy Slaughter William H. Slaughter is an American film and television actor, best known for his roles in '' The Campaign'' and ''Focus''. In his free time he works with students that want to become actors and actresses at Launch Model And Talent in Metairie, ...

as Sam's Aide *

Christopher McDonald Christopher McDonald (born February 15, 1955) is an American film, television, theatre and voice actor. McDonald is best known for playing the villainous professional golfer Shooter McGavin in the 1996 comedy ''Happy Gilmore''. Other notable ...

as Peter Kirkland

Reception

''Zipper'' has received negative reviews from critics, despite praise for Wilson's performance. The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 20% rating, with a rating average of 4.38/10 based on 30 reviews. It has a score of 39% on Metacritic. Jordan Hoffman of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' gave the film 2/5 stars, saying, "What's ultimately frustrating about Zipper is that it seems like it has something important to say about infidelity and the sex industry, but can't decide what that should be." Kyle Smith of the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' called it a thinly veiled dramatization of the

Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal On March 10, 2008, ''The New York Times'' reported that Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer had patronized a prostitution ring run by an escort agency known as Emperors Club VIP. During the course of an investigation into the escort agency, the ...

and gave the film a negative review, saying that "The movie comes across as a not particularly compelling episode of "House of Cards," and Wilson's Southern accent is equally unconvincing." David Rooney of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' also gave the film a negative review: "There's neither topicality nor bite in this bland pseudo-thriller, which lathers on composer H. Scott Salinas' high-suspense score like shower gel after sweaty sex, yet rarely musters an ounce of genuine tension." Another negative review from Geoff Berkshire of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' said, "Tawdry but cripplingly self-serious, the second feature from Mora Stephens (a full decade after her little-seen, also politically themed debut '' Conventioneers'') benefits from Patrick Wilson's committed star turn. Still, the awkward end product would inevitably struggle in theatrical venues, making it more advisable to play to the base and go straight to VOD and premium cable." Despite having several negative reviews, Fred Topel from ''

CraveOnline Mandatory (formerly CraveOnline Media) is a lifestyle website based in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco. The site is owned by media company Evolve Media, LLC. Mandatory focuses its contents into the male- ...

'' gave the film a positive review, with a score of 9.5/10, saying, "Zipper whips out the thrills… This year's Gone Girl… The grown-up thriller of the year."

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on January 27, 2015. Shortly after it was announced

had acquired distribution rights to the film. The film was released on August 28, 2015, in a

and through

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 3346224, Zipper
''Zipper''
at Cargo Entertainment 2015 films 2015 independent films 2015 thriller films American independent films American political thriller films Protozoa Pictures films 2015 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films