The Temp

This is one of my "guilty pleasures" movies. A movie that has no real message and nothing profound to say. It's just fun to watch. (Con Air is another example for me.) The performances are more than adequate for this type of movie, so it is easy to watch.

Basic premise, Peter Derns (Timothy Hutton) gets a temp, Kris Bolin (Lara Flynn Boyle) that is smart, sexy and ambitious. She seems like a Godsend at first because she actually helps him in his dog-eat-dog world of marketing. His boss, Charlene (Faye Dunaway) is great in her supporting role as both mentor & menace.

One of the problems is that Peter is under mental supervision (aka: shrink) for supposed paranoia & extreme jealousy. When things start to go wrong as Kris works her way up the ladder, everyone thinks he's just paranoid. Hmm?

Well, you can probably guess what happens next. But even though this movie is predictable, it doesn't stop me from watching it whenever it's on. The actors are fun to watch, and very attractive. The sexual tension between Hutton & Boyle is believable. And there are plenty of deaths to keep it moving right along!

Just a fun movie, nothing major or worthy of the Academy of Dramatic Arts- but then not everything has to be. Just enjoy this for what it is- a guilty pleasure.

I'm relieved to see I'm not the only one who finds pleasure in this cunning little trifle from "Fright Night" director Tom Holland.

Yes, it's a blank-from-hell picture and yes also, the blank in question happens to be a secretary/admin assistant (amazing how much mileage this particular career gets in this role), but "The Temp" jazzs up the stakes by making the stalkee --- in this case ad man Peter Derns (Timothy Hutton) --- a paranoid head case with anger management problems.

Lara Flynn Boyle of Twin Peaks fame plays the stalker with a mix of innocence and deliberateness that suggests a truly unhinged personality waiting to detonate. Watching her manipulate and provoke Hutton's character provides for some sick thrills --- it's like tormenting a wounded insect only the insect probably has more going on upstairs.

The plot is cheesy, for sure, but the script always keeps you watching. The dialogue is smooth for the most part and even when it borders on camp, it's not so over the line that it breaks the spell (until near the end when some of the action gets a bit superhero-ish).

Despite being a fun ride, "The Temp" suffers from one of the lamest closing lines ever (tied with "Get a Life" from "Sliver") but even that will give you a little chuckle. And there's worse things to get from grade B thrillers.

I too turned this film on not expecting much...in fact as something to fall asleep to...

BUT

its not as bad as you might think

Tim Hutton plays paranoid pretty much the same as he did in 'Dark Half' and Lara Flynne Boyle does a fine job as the obvious 'crazy' whilst managing to hold up one of the most ridiculous hairstyles in years...and the movie still works as long as you think of it as a sub-Fatal Attraction thriller and not expect some novel work of cinema

Give it a go...

A standardized psychological thriller, in the "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle" mold; we have yet another female character that seduces the men with her attractiveness and at first appears to be incredibly genial and helpful, but gradually turns into a possessive, obsessive person, ready to try anything to achieve her goals. The film is overly predictable and long but fairly entertaining. Lara Flynn Boyle is not quite up to the level we'd like her to be, but Timothy Hutton is an effortlessly likable actor, easy to identify with. (**)

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.