Juego de seducción

"Tempted" sounds like a great idea. It's about a wealthy man who hires a young law student to "tempt" his wife, in order for the wealthy man to see if she's loyal to him. Naturally, the wealthy man is crazy jealous, and eventually there are a lot of dead bodies.

Burt Reynolds is by far the best actor on this film. For whatever reason Burt has gone through his own marriage troubles and he brings that out in staggering fashion. The movie was worth it because of Burt.

However everything ELSE about the film - the other actors, the script, photography, etc. etc. is very average.

If there's anything a lower budget film should excel in, it's the script - because that's where you make up for lack of money for the rest of the project. But it was clumsy, overworked, cliched, .. a draft that's been through too many Hollywood "story seminars" - there are too many clunky plot elements in a bland effort to liven things up, when it should have been fixed by sticking to the main story and improving the ACTING, and little details that add to the overall mood.

There's a subplot regarding a murder conspiracy that's majorly half-baked - it seems like the start of ANOTHER script by the same writer, but simply not out of the oven yet.

Most of the actor's emotions don't track well through the film - except for Burt. The supposed "feelings" between the law student and the wife always come off as hollow. Even when she's supposedly trying to kill him, they have one last sheepish meeting at a bar with awkward dialog - it doesn't make sense. Her motivation for sleeping with him turned out to be interesting though..

The movie seems to share a lot in common with "Body Heat" - an 80's film script touted as a winner by the king of script hacks, Syd Field. There's the wealthy husband, the beautiful but dangerous wife, and the morally ambiguous lawyer. The difference? Body Heat kept things simple - and William Hurt played the young lawyer.

In summary, watch it for BURT, man that guy can act. I found the whole idea of him creating a "self fulfilling prophecy" fascinating - it's almost like he relentlessly (and fatally) stabs himself emotionally and doesn't know why.

I have to say i quite enjoyed this movie, i am the worlds biggest "Burt Reynolds" fan, although I was a bit confused with his part in the film, I dident know if he was the good guy or the bad guy, I still scratching my head over that one. I also thought "Saffron Burrows" did a great job in her part, although I was very surprized to see her do nudity in the film, you don't see that too often.

8/10

If I had put two and two together that this is the same director, Bill Bennett, that had done "The Nugget", which I thought was an abominable supposed comedy, I probably never would have watched "Tempted". Unfortunately I would have missed a very intriguing neo-noir, so I'm not ashamed to give credit where credits due. Burt Reynolds hires a carpenter, Peter Facinelli, who works for him, to severely test his beautiful wife's fidelity. The script has many twists and turns, a few of which seem to slightly stretch credibility, but overall this is a fine, entertaining film. The erotic moments work, and the story fills the 91 minute running time nicely. Recommended. - MERK

New Orleans businessman Burt Reynolds takes it into his head to test wife Saffron Burrows' fidelity. He gives day laborer Peter Facinelli $10,000 to try to seduce her, and promises another $40,000 if he succeeds. At first she's not interested. However, when Reynolds' secretary tells her about the matter, she sleeps with Facinelli. This sets off a chain of betrayal and murder.

There are a couple of plot hole and a couple of very convenient coincidences in this movie, but it was effective, mostly because the performers are good enough to mask their conflicted emotions throughout. Reynolds is good, although he can't do a New Orleans or Cajun, or whatever he's supposed to be accent, and Miss Burrows is a very skinny and attractive young woman in a couple of soft-core porn scenes. With Mike Starr, Carol Sutton, and Eric Mabius.

I found the film nailed me from the beginning, this film has nearly everything a decent film has to have , good-great acting, an original concept, a good trace of the pilot, many turns and twists...

See this film without high expectations, its not a classic , but a film that will keep you on your seat while watching it, thats for sure.