The Shakedown Synopsis: The Life of a Famous Lawyer Who Had an Affair with His Colleague

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Recently, Apple TV+’s “Presumed Innocent” followed the life of a high-profile lawyer who cheats on his wife with his colleague. Its early episodes followed the relatively sympathetic arc of the cheating husband, which received some criticism from viewers. Now, Ari Kruger’s “The Shakedown” on Prime Video follows another man who is having an affair. The film shows his trials and tribulations as his mistress intimidates him after he refuses to acknowledge their affair as a relationship. So, this is something we’ve seen countless times in various forms.

“The Shakedown” focuses on its male protagonist, Justin Diamond (Carl Beukes), a married man with a wife, Natalie (Julia Anastasopoulos), and children. Despite this seemingly happy marriage, he is having an affair with Marika (Berenice Barbier). He uses Marika for his sexual pleasure. In return, Marika expects him to commit to their relationship. But he refuses to get involved any further. After all, he wants to maintain his image of a happy marriage. On a family celebration day, Marika threatens him to give her a large sum of money.

Otherwise, she will expose their affair to her friends and family. To solve this problem, Justin seeks help from his brother, Dovi (Emmanuel Castis), who has connections with the underworld. Although Justin disagrees with Dovi’s criminal interests and has a strained relationship with him, he decides to ask Dovi for help. Dovi contacts his cronies to handle the problem, which turns into a series of twists and turns that he did not expect. During this journey, certain events from their past create further chaos in their lives. While this is happening, Natalie is bored with her marriage because Justin does not show any romantic or sexual interest in her.

So, she looks for other options to satisfy her urges. The gangsters speak with accents that often seem far from reality. But they maintain their humor and thus seem intentional. Still, whatever the accent, “The Shakedown” uses it in a Guy Ritchie-esque style. Think of Brad Pitt’s incomprehensible accent and the uniqueness it brought to “Snatch.” Kruger tries to get the same sense of weirdness to the narrative. Additionally, some characters constantly talk about things that are not directly relevant to the plot. These moments exist solely for the entertainment of their silliness. The humor works very well even though it is sometimes very similar to its predecessor crime comedies. However, the film never goes beyond its inspiration and is mostly derivative. The film uses several cliches related to family trauma and infidelity.

So, the film feels like a mashup of similar scenes we have seen in the past. Also, the representation of an opportunistic woman who wants to exploit a wealthy man feels outdated, especially since she is only used as a caricature with no clear personality traits. Regardless, the film will keep you interested as it explores things beyond the series of embarrassing events. There is a common thread that connects Justin and Natalie through their marital boredom and sexual frustration. This leads them to inappropriate alternatives that eventually show a mirror of their worst sides. It makes for some really good black comedy.

Unfortunately, the film focuses less on exploring these insecurities and behavioral flaws and remains interested in the surface-level satire and characterization of its characters. So, the film doesn’t seem to be emotionally satisfying to the level of a great black comedy, even if it has the potential to be. Speaking of performances, the lead actor, who looks a lot like Hank Azaria, has a very similar range of expressions. He’s also dynamic in his comedic delivery and has more or less the same mannerisms. However, dramatically, he’s not as powerful as Julia Anastasopoulos, who plays his wife. So, in the end, despite being the ‘fun escapist comedy’ that audiences usually look for, “The Shakedown” is derivative and disappointing.