Attraction - Spirale der Gewalt

"Attraction" is an okay journeyman psychodrama about a two men and two women and their somewhat convoluted relationships with each other. DeGrazier had to pound some square pegs through round holes to get the pieces of this confused flick to fit with the result being an interesting but muddled story about a guy stalking a woman while being stalked by another guy who is in love with the stalkee who can't really be a stalkee as she's too solicitous while the stalker falls for some other babe, etc...blaa, blaa. Solid performances are delivered all around as this plodding and claustrophobic drama crawls toward a slam-bang conclusion almost as if running out of time. Fodder for late night couch potatoes and little more.

The thing I liked about this movie is that every character was nuanced. Seemingly, until the end of the movie, there is no one that can be deemed pure protagonist or antagonist, and the intentions of the individuals are not clear. This is a good thing, it adds depth to the picture. In addition, there is a bit at the end where Liz mocks Garrett, this is truly a subtle point, and is some sense "explains" Garrett's subsequent reaction.

This said, I thought the ending was poor. My wife and I thought that the script had written itself into a corner, and the ending really showed this. I think a good dose of ambiguity would have better served the conclusion.

It's a sleeper, a B movie, a thriller about relationships, obsession, and a million other things you should never do in your own life. Saw it on HBO, and it came out of nowhere; never heard of it before. It's a pretty good watch, good for renting. While not the best written film out there, it's got good performances and enough plot changes to keep you guessing. I thought Samantha Mathis stood out in this, as did Everett Scott. The rest of the cast were okay. I wanted to tune away, thinking it was going to really suck, but it kept my interest and by the end, I was terribly interested. Nice movie to see accidentally, especially, as others have noted, if you know nothing about it.

This was a interesting movie that had a terrific turn of events at the end. The movie seemed to create true to life account of an obsessive love and the downfall it can take when you have your "friends" knowing every detail. It was interesting to see how the tables turned with the obsession but that all the "players" were given only one account of the obsession...not the fact that the object of desire ( Liz ) was creating the drama and actually "got off" on it but in the end ..she learned that playing two ends against the middle doesn't pay off.

I rented this movie at Blockbuster recently; I always rent movies instead of going to see them while in the theater. Too expensive; and usually are out too soon; but I'm sad to hear this one went right to video release; skipped release in the movie theaters. I'd like to know who decided to do that. There are so many stupid movies out there now, and this one is not one of those. That I just found out doing an "after viewing" search on Matthew Settle; betting I saw him in "I know what you did last summer" originally renting the movie because I am a "Samatha Mathis" fan. Oh well. Just wanted to give my vote as the movie's worth seeing; both Samantha Mathis and Matthew Settle are great in the movie; more impressed with Matthew's roll, but he had the lead roll too. Cheers!