La seducción

This was a good movie, but there were several plot holes you could drive a truck through. I found myself saying "No one would really do that" over and over again. It seemed as though the director wanted to do a straight suspense film, and Steve Martin wanted to do a screwball comedy, and in the end, it's neither one. The characters are well played, and Helena Bonham Carter did an especially good job with a big departure from her previous roles as refined British noble women. At times, the actors got very close to being caricatures instead of characters. All in all, an enjoyable film if you aren't expecting the quality of "The Spanish Prisoner", which I think is still Steve Martin's best film ever.

To start with, any movie in which Helena Bonham Carter gets naked is a good thing.

This is a weird weird movie, but good pacing and casting saves it. A more disciplined director could have turned it into a cult classic.

Steve Martin is convincing in a challenging part. He is a fine actor.He brings just enough comedy so the movie doesn't descend into the land that light forgot. This edge gives the film strange believability.

Laura Dern is also exquisite walking a fine line to achieve a balance between farce and drama. Her character, blondness and 'hard body' look contrasted effectively with HBC's petite, auburn wickedness.

At the end, I wanted to watch it again to appreciate the fine points I missed the first time through.

I would describe it as a darker " The Whole Nine Yards".

Most stars have made a film they regret. I fear this will be the one for Steve Martin, Laura Dern & Helena Bonham Carter. Martin stars as a popular dentist, engaged to his office manager (Dern). One evening when he's alone in the office a mysterious young woman (Carter) comes in and convinces him to give her a prescription for pain killers, promising to come back for treatment the next morning. This one mistake of his sets off a series of intrigues and doublecrosses with a satisfying ending. So why am I so disappointed in the movie? For one thing, the story has holes that no amount of dental work can fill. And the movie is filled with gratuitously painful-to-watch scenes of dental work... starting right from the beginning. This is definitely not a movie to eat popcorn by and, in spite of the satisfying ending, everyone at my screening left the theater feeling sickened and extremely disappointed in Steve Martin.

Let's get something clear real quick - this is NOT a comedy. Don't try to watch it as a comedy, don't try to laugh at things that are not supposed to be funny, and don't complain if you didn't laugh a lot.

Now, I like to see an actor take a chance and do something out of his/her comfort zone. I like to see an actor expand his/her range, explore other genres, flex their actual acting muscles once in a while. And, I like to see an actor want to do a script that might not score them points either in the box office or with critics, so long as they feel they can bring something to a role. (Tom Hanks is the best example of this; Michael Keaton is close behind, and even Bruce Willis falls into this category, in my humble opinion).

That said, this film is fairly good. A pretty tame dentist is drawn into a downward-spiralling vortex of sex, drugs and murder. He is clearly over his head as his world crumbles down around him, and he doesn't suddenly become an action hero at all.

This movie has some classic femme fatale elements but does not pursue that vehicle to the common extreme. However, it also captures some film noir ideas - the first-person narrative, the slippery-slope downwards, the protagonist who just can't stop himself from falling under the spell of the vamp who's bad news from the word "go"...

It's not Double Indemnity or Sunset Blvd, but hey, for what it is, it was somewhat engaging.

Steve Martin has either grown more talented and brilliant with age or we are now having more opportunities to witness this. His subtleness and incredible face are alluring. The entire cast deserves kudos for a great ensemble. On the other hand, the writing and directing do not.

Unlike the cast members who were top rate, the direction was simplistic, not in a minimalist fashion, but in a puerile attempt: first this happens, then that, now everyone act vaudevillian. The direction appeared to be confused between stage and film. The writing was weak with annoying one liners and non-clever phrases. Not enough credit was given to the intellect of the audience and too much was spelled out for us. None the less, I managed to finish the film and was rewarded with a unique and sweet ending.