Barbarians at the Gate

REVIEW
It's the 1980s and it's morning in America. Entire companies are bought, sold and discarded faster than pantyhose. Multimillion-dollar leveraged buyouts are routinely handled before lunch; the billion-dollar deals take a little more time. Sweeping across this frenetic landscape is one rich former Canadian who, in a fast-paced tap dance through the boardrooms of the country, concocts a plan to purchase the leading baking corporation in the land. Fantastic parody, right? The truly fantastic element is that it's all true -- well, not true in the sense of This Dialogue Guaranteed Verbatim. Garner is mesmerizing as F. Ross Johnson, CEO of RJR Nabisco, whose attempts to buy out the company are set forth in this humorous and extremely entertaining HBO production.