Yes, the performances (especially Spacey's--mesmerizing) were excellent, but the film suffers simply because it does not know what it wants to be. Both halves are well-done, but placed side-by-side it almost seems as though two separate films were hastily meshed together by an overworked film editor. The comedy is far too light to stand aside overly dark torture scenes, although Spacey does a fine job in turning what is essentially a caricature of a tough boss into a multi-level (and very stirring) performance. I do, however, have to agree with some of the posts on this board--Spacey's motivation in the last scenes is indeed very difficult to comprehend.