Do you remember those bins you would see in places like Target or Walmart that were loaded with DVDs?  They would be on sale, giving you a deal like buy three for $10, or something in that ballpark.  Many of the titles would be recognizable ones, the kind that got some attention for a little while, but faded into memory as soon as the next big thing came along.  I am not sure The Man (2005) found itself in any of those bargain troughs.  Indeed, I do not recall this movie ever being released, though apparently it was . . . to the toon of losing $10 million for the studio that produced it.  This might explain why it never saw a wide DVD release, the studio not wanting to go through the effort and expense of producing them.  However, it can now be found on streaming services, and its runtime is blessedly short.

The Man truly is not Andy Fiddler (Eugene Levy).  He is a dental hygiene products sales representative from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and he is about to travel to Detroit, Michigan, to give a presentation.  It is there that we have Agent Derrick Vann (Samuel L. Jackson) of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF, though I do not know why they leave off the “E”).  He is being questioned by Internal Affairs Agent Peters (Miguel Ferrer) regarding the death of his partner.  He had been corrupt and involved in the theft of an ATF warehouse full of guns.  Though Agent Peters tells Agent Vann that the latter will be under surveillance, Agent Vann knows that his boss, Lieutenant Rita Carbone (Susie Essman), accepts that he is innocent.  She puts Agent Vann on the case, too.  His first step is to find his informant, who goes by the unfortunate moniker Booty (Anthony Mackie), for information on the location of the weapons.  From Booty, Agent Vann learns that they are in the possession of a man named Joey Kane (Luke Gross), who is trying to sell them and get them out of the city.  To do so, Booty tells Agent Vann to go to a certain diner, buy a newspaper, and Joey will see Agent Vann as a potential buyer.  Meanwhile, Andy has gotten to Detroit the day before his conference.  Guess what diner he ends up going to, newspaper in hand?  Joey sees Andy, hands over a “taste,” gives Andy a cell phone, and tells the sales rep to wait for a call.  Agent Vann gets there just in time to see a confused Andy pull a gun out of the paper bag that had the “taste” in it, and start waving it around.  Agent Vann acts quickly and takes the agitated Andy into custody.  Since Joey essentially thinks Andy is Agent Vann, the ATF officer forces Andy to answer the phone and get where they are supposed to meet to exchange money and guns.  All this happens over Andy’s protests, and it takes two attempts for this to happen since Andy is understandably trying to escape.  Joey’s people are also trying to figure out Andy’s identity.  Using computer hacking skills, I guess, they learn that Andy is basically a nobody, except for the fact that he has an outstanding arrest warrant from the government of Turkey.  This fact alone, never mind the overwhelming evidence of Andy’s ordinariness, convinces the criminals that he is some kind of international arms dealer.  After this first exchange, Joey tells Andy that there will be more, and to wait for another call.  Instead, Agent Vann takes Andy to ATF headquarters and place Andy in jail.  As he is being processed, he explains that the warrant is the result of a misunderstanding, having unwittingly bought a Turkish rug while traveling in Istanbul that turned out to be stolen.  Still, they are no closer to getting back the weapons or finding Joey, so Agent Vann gets Andy out of his cell and it is back into the mean streets of Detroit.  In the process of trying to uncover more information, two of Agent Vann’s contacts end up dead, including Booty, may he rest in peace.  This is not before they are reached by Joey, who tells them that he wants $500,000 for the whole cache.  They obtain that money from the ATF, but it means that Andy is going to have to be the one to make the exchange.  Because Agent Vann has promised to return all the cash he has been using to make this bust, he tells Andy to only display the money.  This way he can show he is serious while also learning about the location of the guns.  Because this movie is what it is, Andy naturally messes this up by giving Joey all of the money.  This means that Agent Vann must intervene himself, saying that he is Andy’s, um, associate.  I will not repeat the word they use.  Agent Vann talks about everything that has happened, including the death of his partner and admitting that he is a cop, in order to arrange another meeting.  Unfortunately, after dropping Andy off, Agent Vann is accused of having murdered two people and stolen the money, essentially, by Agent Peters.  The next day, Agent Peters accosts Andy after his presentation, making the sales rep wear a wire in order to get Agent Vann to admit to his crimes.  Instead, following having to turn in his badge and gun (because this always happens in these movies), Agent Vann takes Andy to the prearranged meeting with Joey.  It is also evident to Agent Vann that Andy has a listening device on him.  This actually comes in handy because when the shots start being fired, Agent Peters sends in a number of extra men to save the day.  Agent Vann then escorts Andy to the airport and they have an, er, hilarious parting before it all ends.

Yes, watching The Man is a waste of time, but it is less than an hour and a half of time, so it has that going for it.  And who knows?  Maybe you just like Samuel L. Jackson being Samuel L. Jackson, and that would be your reason for watching it.  There is plenty of that in it.  It also has a lot of Eugene Levy being Eugene Levy.  I am assuming for some of you that is a little bit of a deeper reference.  He typically plays character like, well, Andy, easily confused but good natured.  It is that latter quality on which I would like to focus my Catholic energies for this one.  The use of the term “good natured” is purposeful.  It is how God created us to be, and being so is the best path towards eternity with Him.  Andy is, indeed, harassed and put upon by Agent Vann throughout the proceedings.  All the same, he has a motto that he will become friends with whoever he meets.  He persists in this goal despite being shot at and put into prison.  There are so many of us that would barely lift a finger to people we call friends, let along strangers.  In this way, Andy exercises Christian virtue.  If nothing else, and believe me, there is nothing else, this quality should be lauded.

In all honesty, I had trouble staying awake while watching The Man.  Therefore, if any of this interests you for some reason, I would recommend putting it on while you are doing something else.  If you have kids, then I would put them down for a nap before watching it because there is a foul language.  Otherwise, you can safely go back to forgetting this movie exists.