He Was a Quiet Man

Bob Maconel talks to his fish. He has few friends. And he works in an office reminiscent of Office Space. But this is no comedy. Rather than plotting to take down the company for millions, Bob (Christian Slater) counts his bullets, carefully noting which is for whom. By all means, he is a quiet man, and watching him being berated by his boss and ridiculed by his co-workers is painful. You can almost empathize with him and his murderous plan. Then walks in an equally pissed-off co-worker, who does the job for him. In an instant instead of the villain Bob becomes a hero, and falls in love with one of the victims, Vanessa (Elisha Cuthbert), who comes out of the ordeal a quadriplegic. In a sad sort of way, things are too good to be true, making one wonder if this saga is all in his head. Along the way, we get a unique look at not only the mind of a wannabe workplace shooter, but also the life of a quadriplegic. The oddball story benefits from Slater and Cuthbert, who are at the top of their game, as well as from a strong script and direction from Frank Cappello.