Rush of Fear

1985: Rosanna Arquette scores with "Desperately Seeking Susan" (though Madonna hogs all the credit, not for the first or indeed last time). A gifted actress who's also a total fox, the future looks bright...

Flashforward to 2003. She can still act, and she's still attractive - Olive Oyl arms but thankfully the resemblance ends there - but like practically everyone else involved with that movie it's proven to be probably the highpoint of her career, which has stagnated to the point where she's spending a lot of her time plying her trade in dire TV movies (we call it Nastassja Kinski Syndrome - unsurprisingly, they've been in the same movie at least once). Which brings us to "Rush of Fear," which signposts its dreadfulness the moment the words "A Carlton America Film" appear. Sadly it delivers.

The movie's hobbled by its script by Lucian K. Truscott IV and (weak) director Walter Klenhard, which commits the twin offences of being both stupid (to paraphrase Jeff Daniels, Dennis Hopper and/or Keanu Reeves in "Speed," pop quiz: You are a bad guy carrying a sawn-off shotgun and a hostage is coming at you with a bat. What do you do? Answer: Shoot him, not use the gun to block the bat) and boring - supposedly a thriller about a couple spending a weekend away and coming into possession of a diamond three thieves want back, it moves at about the same pace as molasses... except slightly slower. There are a few flashes of interest, mostly with Rosanna's relationship with the man who helps her in her quest to save her husband, but it's all for naught.

Frighteningly close to a stereotyped idea of what action movies might be like if they were made by Lifetime, this is exclusively for connossieurs of ludicrously unconvincing stunt doubles, unrepetant advocates of Girl Power (Rosanna and the female thief face off in the climax), or those willing to watch absolutely anything with Rosanna Arquette in it.

The best thing about this movie is the lead actress, she looks as young as ever to me. As for the movie it is really stupid. Diamond thieves accidently leave make up bag( containing the diamond) in rented car and instead of doing the smart thing and simply telling the next person that rented the car that they left a bag in the car they decide to kidnap the guy and ask for the diamond as ransom.