There is a scene toward the beginning of the film that works as a perfect capsule of the entire movie. Joe Ross (Campbell Scott) is an engineer of sorts who has designed a "process" with which his company will be able to control the world markets, whatever that means. Susan Ricci (Rebecca Pidgeon) is one of the company's drones, sent down to assist Joe. They are arguing over whether a man, who turns out to be Jimmy Dell (Steve Martin), flew in on a seaplane or not. Neither of them saw him exit the plane, but he climbed out of a boat that came from the direction of the plane. Dell approaches Joe and offers him $1000 for the camera. Joe is offended, saying that Dell can just have the camera. The two edgily discuss the proper etiquette for the situation, then agree to meet for dinner.

It doesn't really matter whether Dell came from the plane or not. The point is that one can't make assumptions about people, which is one focus of the film. The other, which the scene demonstrates, is that David Mamet's characters are overly obsessed with etiquette, the way things should be said, the way subjects should be approached. They verbally tiptoe around each other. Their halting dialog, with its sudden stops and cutoffs, mirrors the action of the film perfectly.

Anyway, Joe has designed this "process." What it actually is is never discussed. It is a McGuffin, Hitchcock's term for something that everyone wants, but nobody explains. It could be gold, a secret formula, it doesn't matter. What is discussed is whether or not Joe deserves extra compensation for his work. He worries that the company will take advantage of him. He talks to the mysterious Jimmy Dell about it, and Jimmy offers to connect him with a lawyer. He also takes Joe to a fancy club and sets up a Swiss bank account for him as a joke. These seemingly harmless things, in addition to his relationship with Dell, suddenly blow up in his face when he loses the briefcase containing the process, and the cops and the law think he stole it.

This movie has enough twists and turns to satisfy anyone who likes surprises and people who are not what they seem. The dialog is first-rate. I think that Mamet is our most gifted screenwriter, and I eagerly await his next film.