Just when the crowd seems to be settling on its identity, slick men in "Saturday Night Fever" gear accompanied by glitzy girlfriends appear, taking over the floor with showy footwork.
After more than 14 years as art director of the rock 'n' roll bible Rolling Stone, the Mississippi native had arrived to do a makeover on the slick men's fashion publication GQ.
The trade group's international award was given, appropriately enough, to Dior's Hedi Slimane, the French-born son of Italian and Tunisian parents, who designs slick men's suits for a European conglomerate and lives part time in Berlin.
For the first time in a 25 year career, Jagger is going out alone, not as the swanking showman of the "sloppiest bar band in the world", but as the leader of a professional and presumably slick session man concoction.
Sam is now some slick macho man, while his co-worker Elvis appears to have suffered serious head trauma.
Since Josh Bolten took over as chief of staff, the White House has seen the appointment of a Wall Street giant, Hank Paulson, to run the Treasury, the arrival of a slick media man, Tony Snow, to run public relations, and advances in Iraq.
Isaiah Washington (veteran of many Spike Lee films, and others, including "Bulworth" and "Out of Sight") plays George, a slick, careful man who becomes an executive at the new network and plans to make his mark quickly.
As Martin, Jeremy Northam slides effortlessly down the ladder from the elegant romantic characters of "Gosford Park" and "Possession" to become a slick ladies' man, ready-made for the Rat Pack, calling everyone around him "Pal-y".
This time, Frank is not a small-town businessman who needs to be bailed out of depression and failure by a sweet, father-figure angel; he is a Wall Street wheeler-dealer who needs a slick soul man who can sell him compassion to match his conservatism.
Patrick Brammall begins the film shaking champagne bottles, popping corks and lapping up liver and sinus damage, but the slick ad man aura evens out into a more broadly accessible character, less Jordan Belfort, more bloke next door (albeit in a bigger and fancier house, and prone to nasty outbursts).
