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(1995) The Secretary PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER

Imbecile film about a loony appearance secretary employee, Deidre Bosnell (Sheila Kelley) becoming disturbed once she gets notified that a new secretary, hired on the spot would get the promotion she's been hoping to get. As I had stated at the top, that this secretary whose the antagonist has a loony kind of look, it's either that or she's just a really bad actress who seems to get away with everything, including 3 murders!. So many plot holes to the most cringing effect, but what do you expect from a straight-to-rental film, labelled as a cash grab movie after the success of "The Temp" from 1993.

"The Secretary" is one of those cheesy, cliched, "thrillers" that one is subjected to watching on a Sunday afternoon, when there is virtually nothing else on. While the plot (a demented woman becomes jealous of all who succeed over her in the office and decides to do whatever she can to stop them) may be one of a kind, I recognized countless plot twists, probably taken from other TV movies that I had been subjected to for the very same reason.

To make matters worse, I was not wild about the cast. Mel Harris is one of those actresses who appears in so many TV movies as either a "mom" or some sort of "victim" of foul play or abuse, that one must wonder the kind of life she leads. In this one, she gets the joy of playing a mom AND a victim of psycho secretary Sheila Kelly, who was not a very good choice as the villain. While Sheila Kelly has made some good career moves(Singles, Breaking In, and I guess, Law and Order), she is also beset by a string of pitiful TV movie roles, and this one just adds to it. As for the others, I don't have any clear memories of them, so that must say something.

This one WILL play on the Lifetime network(I think that's where I saw it), but don't bother watching it, unless you are too bored for words. Not that it will make you any more excitied...

THE TEMP (1993) didn't do much theatrical business, but here's the direct-to-video rip-off you didn't want, anyway! Ellen Bradford (Mel Harris) is the new woman at Millennium Investments, a high scale brokerage firm, who starts getting helpful hints from wide-eyed secretary Deidre (Sheila Kelley). Deidre turns out to be an ambitious daddy's girl who will stop at nothing to move up the corporate ladder, including screwing a top broker she can't stand and murdering anyone who gets on her bad side. She digs up skeletons in Ellen's closet, tries to cause problems with her husband (Barry Bostwick), kills while making it look like she is responsible, kidnaps her daughter and tries to get her to embezzle money from the company.

Harris and Kelley deliver competent performances, the supporting cast is alright and it's reasonably well put-together, but that doesn't fully compensate for a script that travels down a well-worn path and offers few surprises.

"The Secretary" is one of the many "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle"-inspired thrillers that were made in the early 90's. It is a totally routine, paint-by-numbers movie. And yet, it's made with a certain workmanlike competence. The director knew, of course, that he was making a forgettable film, but he showed some respect for the audience, to the degree of at least delivering something watchable. Not worth renting, but seeing it for free, if you happen to catch it on TV, won't hurt. (**)

I am not a film student, critic or expert in any way. I'm just a guy who watched and enjoyed this little known tele-movie and found it to be very suspenseful. Some of the camera shots reminded me of techniques used by spielberg in gremlins and the music was constantly building an air of tension a bit like in the excorsist. There was something almost hitchcock-like about it. Some aspects of the movie were a bit stupid but i found it to be a very suspensful thriller and would definately recommend it. It also has barry bostwick in it who always makes me laugh because he reminds me of the mayor from spin city.