Die Aushilfe

THE TEMP stars Timothy Hutton as marketing executive, Peter Derns. When his assistant leaves suddenly, the title character, named Kris Bolin (Lara Flynn Boyle) arrives to fill in. At first, everything runs swimmingly, due to Kris' amazing skills, and her innate ability to overcome adversity. She seems too good to be true.

When a series of serendipitous "accidents" occur, causing mutilation and death, Peter remains oblivious to the obvious. Meanwhile, Kris starts doing exceptionally well, even attaining executive status!

This movie is as much a black comedy as it is a thriller. It could easily be viewed as a biting satire of big business, climbing the corporate ladder, etc. Hutton's paranoid, everyman character would fit right into the likes of CATCH-22, THE TRIAL, or DR. STRANGELOVE. It helps that Faye Dunaway, who starred in NETWORK, one of the greatest black comedies of all time, has a role as head of the corporation.

A great movie to watch if you've had a terrible day at work...

The stalker from hell was the most popular plot in Hollywood in the early 1990s . In fact come to think of it , it was probably the only Hollywood plot in those days . Never a week went by without a major film studio releasing film featuring a spurned lover from hell , a lodger from hell , a cop from hell a flatmate from hell etc . What I didn`t know was that there was a personal assistant from hell film called THE TEMP untill I saw it on TV the other night .

I`ve got to admit I`ve got a soft spot for these type of movies even though they`re all the same . As you`d expect THE TEMP plays out like the rest of them with an everyman character finding his life falling apart with the climax involving a physical life or death struggle . Timothy Hutton plays the everyman character fairly well in this , and the final scene isn`t as how you`d expect it . Without doubt the best scene involves some public samples of biscuits .

If you like these type of movies you`ll like THE TEMP . If not you won`t

Many of the key scenes are telegraphed in the style of Friday the 13th.

Faye Dunaway is over-the-top. She's sort of like The Joker in batman. She kind of channeled her character from the movie Network, but it didn't work here as well.

Timothy Hutton is my favorite actor. He makes it look so easy, and has such an appealing presence. Another reviewer said that you want to root for his character, because you identify with him. I agree. That's the case with most of his movies.

Lara Flynn Boyle was great. She nailed it. However, her hair style, and the psychotic look in her eyes were a real turn off. Maura Tierney is meant to look depressed and plain. Therefore, there was no eye-candy in this one for me, although I understand that Boyle was, for most men.

Portland, and Oregon in general looked great. I never thought of skycrapers and big businesses in Portland, but I guess there are some. There is a scene when the characters are traveling down to the state capitol of Salem, via the Coast Highway. That was just thrown in for scenery, because the coast is way west of the road to Salem.

The main character's personal problem from the past is key to the plot. It seems a bit far-fetched, but I liked it. A simple, cheap plot device, but I'll allow it.

I thoroughly enjoyed the physical atmosphere, the buddy aspect, the believable wife, Hutton's persona, and the devilish Boyle. Not a great film, but I will undoubtedly take out my VHS copy again in a few years, or introduce it to a friend.

THE TEMP is one of those glossy 90s office thrillers that you can watch with one eye closed, walk away from it for a few minutes, come back to it and not miss a thing. Michael Douglas made one of these as well, 1994's DISCLOSURE. Lara Flynn Boyle, the main reason for watching this, plays a nutjob temp who fills in for corporate exec Tim Hutton's regular secretary. Pretty soon, his in-office competitors and acquaintances are dropping like flies, and the very existence of the company is threatened -- all thanks to the evil machinations of the delectable and obsessed Ms. Boyle, who is lots of fun to watch as she slithers about and whispers dire warnings in her boss' ear. Hutton perhaps plays his part a little too straight, but old-timer Faye Dunaway as the beleaguered company head tears up the scenery in every one of her too-few scenes. Dunaway at least knows when she's working a turkey jerky. Try watching Boyle and not think of her in WAYNE'S WORLD, by the way. She played a similar nutjob in that comedy classic.

I found this video in an ex-rental shop, i had never heard of it and bought it for 50 eurocents. When i came home and searched on how people voted for this film. The average vote was not encouraging so i left it on the shelf for months. When i decided to watch it, it was surprisingly good. Not a classic and sometimes very predictable, but never dull. Good performances by the leading characters, especially Laura Flynn Boyle and Faye Dunaway. I rate this film 8 out 0f 10.