Jeux d'adultes

Kevin Kline is cleverly framed for the murder of his best friend's wife, with a seemingly airtight case against him. Equal cleverness in working out this story seemed called for. Instead, the frame-up basically unravels by improbable happenstance and concludes with trite Hollywood-isms, finally throwing in the towel with a few assault-weapon blasts. Real subtle, yes?

Not too bad a way to pass the time, but ultimately a let-down.

Fans of Forest Whitaker ("The Crying Game") will be pleased to see this talented actor appearing as a very southern, shy, soft-spoken insurance investigator.

This is odd. The director and co-star of "Sophie's Choice" teamed up again and made one of the most confusing movies. Kevin Kline and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio play a laid-back couple whose new neighbors (Kevin Spacey and Rebecca Miller) aren't quite what they seem. Spacey's role gives a faint hit of Lester Burnham, but there's no real way to compare "Consenting Adults" with "American Beauty". The movie is just weird. I'm befuddled as to how Alan J. Pakula, the man behind "Klute", "The Parallax View", "All the President's Men" and "Sophie's Choice", could fall down to this. Admittedly, not everyone can have a perfect record, but something as low-quality as this? Just bizarre.

I know this movie has had a lot of mixed reviews, but I really liked it. It had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, and it had just the right amount of mystery, excitement, sex, violence, and drama to make me want to rent it again. It might not be the best movie to pick to watch with your married friends, but for a group of girls or guys to watch separately, it'll make for a very interesting evening!

Kevin Kline and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are a married couple in the suburbs who like to play it safe. Their neighbors, Kevin Spacey and Rebecca Miller, are a bit more reckless. Sometimes friendships with yin and yang balance themselves out, with the reckless friend pulling the cautious one out of his comfort zone, and the shy one keeping the daring one from getting into trouble. That's what Kevin 1 thinks will happen when the foursome become friends. There's a bit more spice than he bargained for when Kevin 2 suggests they swap wives for one night.

There's also a lot more to the plot than I've just told you, but it's a lot more entertaining when you watch it rather than read it. What are you waiting for? Grab your gal pals and a cocktail shaker and get ready for a bumpy ride!

. . .but the weirdest thing is - it is eerily similar to the Aykroyd/Belushi film "Neighbors." Heavily derided in it's time, it matters not whether you liked it, it had some really weird elements to it. NOW - take out the weird elements and leave a basic plot: "Exciting" guy with a bad bleach-job and his sexy wife move in next door to thoroughly-mundane guy and his attractive wife; who, by the way have a sexless marriage. Kline/Belushi are set up as "marks" immediately, and almost as immediately the new neighbors begin a contrived "seduction of the innocent". Soon, the mundane guy finds himself trapped in an existential hell of Blondie's making(Spacey/Aykroyd). Well. Consenting Adults is not a good movie - or even interesting. Spacey gives a charismatic performance as usual, but the script lacks any originality. This was another entry in the ". . .from Hell" high-concept series of scripts from the early-90's. Babysitter. . .Cop. . .Neighbor. . .Dentist. ..I wish I could say that the best parts of this film ended up on the editing room floor - considering the cast - but there's no way this script was ever anything but stale.

Consenting adults has a strong cast, a decent script and a deeper than expected story, that builds and sustains enough tension throughout; without sinking into as much sexually explicit detail, as the title may suggest.

Kevin Kline, Kevin Spacey, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Rebecca Miller all portray there characters well, with Spacey and Miller stealing most of the credit.

Consenting Adults is a reasonably safe choice for most thriller fans, it's not the best out there; but its entertaining and intriguing enough to please.

6/10