Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

grantss Graham Marshall (Michael Caine) is ambitious and is steadily climbing the corporate ladder. He looks set for another promotion and is very disappointed when, instead, the promotion goes to a subordinate, Robert Benham. He decides to take drastic action to address the perceived injustice.A lesser-known Michael Caine movie. Pretty good. Interesting, though not flawless or hole-proof, plot. Starts off feeling like something between American Psycho and Falling Down, but ultimately ends up as a more conventional crime caper. It needed a bit more grittiness toward the end to really ram its point home.Great performance from Michael Caine, but that is to be expected. Solid support from Elizabeth McGovern and Swoosie Kurtz.

Spikeopath A Shock to the System is directed by Jan Egleson and adapted to screenplay by Andrew Klavan from the novel written by Simon Brett. It stars Michael Caine, Elizabeth McGovern, Peter Riegert, Will Patton and Swoosie Kurtz. Music is by Gary Chang and cinematography by Paul Goldsmith.Graham Marshall (Caine) is once again overlooked for promotion and once again his harpy wife (Kurtz) belittles him.Then a heated exchange at the train station results in the accidental death of a beggar, and he gets away with it, something which gives Graham some devilish thoughts, one of Satan's light bulbs ignited above his head.By his own admission Michael Caine has readily done films just to pay the bills or build a new house. His success ratio as per great films and performances to bad films and tired performances probably stacks up as 1 in 10, consider this, in this same year he made Bullseye! What we do know though, is that when he gets it right he knocks it out the park and thus makes all his bad films easy to forgive.A Shock to the System is an under valued film on his CV, a brilliantly constructed black comedy that finds Caine effortlessly shifting through the emotional gears. From beat down Milquetoast to ruthless killer with a glint in his eye, Caine plays it to perfection. There's stabs of humour along the way, Caine a natural at this of course, and he even gets a young love interest in the form of the unbelievably cute Lizzie McGovern. Interesting to note that Graham's sex life improves greatly once the killing begins!Driven by an antagonist who toys with the audiences sympathies and moral repulsions, this is a film that's deserving of greater exposure and is ripe for re-evaluation. Great film, great Caine. 9/10

Martin Bradley Michael Caine made "A Shock to the System" in 1990 and I must have blinked and missed it, (me and a lot of others). He's Graham Marshall, a corporate businessman who is passed over for promotion in favour of his hot-shot subordinate Peter Riegert. Naturally, he doesn't take this too well. In fact, he feels that he's cursed in some way and he really should do something about it. As it turns out, "A Shock to the System" is a deliciously funny and dark comedy about a man who will go to any lengths, including murder, if it means getting ahead and Caine is terrific, (it's actually one of his best performances), and he's backed by an equally terrific supporting cast. Riegert is superbly slimy as Caine's new boss; then there's Elizabeth McGovern as the colleague who takes a shine to him, Swoosie Kurtz as his social-climbing wife, John McMartin as the out-going head of department and Will Patton as a very inquisitive cop. The director was Jon Egelson who doesn't revert to any tricks to tell his tale but rather relies on the quality of his material and his cast and it and they don't let him down.

sol (There are Spoilers) When senior executive Graham Marshall, Michael Caine, was passed over for a promotion at the Wall Street advertisement firm Gibbs for this young arrogant and back-stabbing butt-kisser Robert Benham, Peter Riegert, his whole world collapsed around him. Being told by everyone at the firm, including Benham, that it was a given that he'll get the promotion Graham felt that he was screwed because he's not the team player that Benham is not because he wasn't fit for the job. This had Graham in a very ugly mood as he went down to the Fulton Street subway station on his way home after work. Being accosted by this panhandling homeless man, Milce Cicchett, who wouldn't take no for an answer Graham in a fit of anger pushed the annoying man away and before he knew it he fell on the tracks and was overran and killed by a passing subway train.Quickly fleeing the subway station and sweating bullets Graham takes a taxi to Grand Central in order to get his ride, via Metro North, home in the suburbs. It's then when realizing that he got away with murder,or in this case homicide, Graham suddenly feels that he tapped into some kind of mother-load of power that he never knew existed, or that he had. Graham feeling invincible will kill and kill and kill again without any fear of getting caught and his victims would be the people whom he feels have been holding him back from achieving that greatness that has been eluding him over the years; his annoying and pesky wife Leslie, Swoosie Kurtz, and his fellow employees Benham and his computer crazed and very disrespectful, towards him, sidekick Henry Park, Philip Moon.Graham even though he murders some half dozen persons in the movie is far too clever to get himself caught by leaving any evidence connecting him to his crimes. The person in charge of the police investigating him Lt. Laker, Will Patton, is so frustrated in getting Graham to admit his crimes that he just about gives up before the movie is half over. Let. Laker is left t doing an imitation Let. Columbo act as he helplessly bumbles his way through the remainder of the film.After offing his pain in the a** wife Leslie, by electrocuting her, Graham strikes up a hot and heavy affair with his fellow Gibbs employee Stella Anderson, Elizabeth McGovern. Later Graham makes an almost fatal mistake in his effort to implicate his now very depressed and suicidal friend George Brewster, John McMartain, in a double murder of Benham & Park,that he committed. Graham feeling that Brewster will never live long enough to know or care that he's a suspect in their deaths. It turned that Graham was right as Brewster, who was forced to retired from Gibbs, gulped down a bottle of sleeping pills as he waited for his train home in Grand Central Station and fell asleep forever.****SPOILER ALERT***Stella got a hold of a lighter that can connect Graham to Benham & Parks, who were blown to pieces on Benham pleasure boat, murders. Graham with his new found power of persuasion got a numb and almost hypnotized Stella to give the lighter back to him and in the end, with another murder under his belt, Graham literately got away with murder. Graham son became the head honcho at Gibbs something that was well beyond his reach when he was just a garden verity god-fearing and law abiding citizen.It's hard to like this movie since it's hero Graham Marshall is nothing but a cold blooded killer who has absolutely no remorse in the crimes that he commits. It's even a bit too much to classify "A Shock to the System" a black comedy since there's nothing at all funny in what Graham does and the tragic suicide of his friend George being shown as if it was funny would shock anyones system watching it in how both callous and heartless, and not at all funny, it came across. The only reason for watching the film is the very good acting of both Michael Caine, who narrates most of the movie in the third person, and Elizabeth McGovern who was the most likable and feeling person in the movie.