The Maddening

Disturbing, but trashy flick with three good actors completely wasted. Burt Reynolds tries extremely hard to bring depth and meaning to his repellent character, but comes up short handed. As for Mia Sara and Angie Dickinson, both of these actresses have proven before in the past that they are solid actresses. However, in this effort they are used as little more then scenery or to just cry and acted scared. The director keeps things moving at a snail like pace and both the director and writer of this project can both be blamed for failing to build up any thrills or suspense. A major disappointment, but at least much better things were in store for Reynolds about 2 years later (Boogie Nights).

Rated R; Adult Themes, Violence.

I've been a fan of the late Burt Reynolds since seeing his hilarious 'Smokey And The Bandit' at a drivie-in as a kid in the 70's. Out of curiosity, I watched 'The Maddening' on YouTube recently and regretted it. This is not the Burt I grew up with or care to see. All actors do whatever roles they want but he was more of a personality and played each part the same way utilizing his charming personality. This 'southern gothic' thriller (horror?) film displays none of his good ole boy persona, and instead, he plays a violent rapist holding a young mother and her daughter hostage at his isolated property along with his mentally ill wife played by Angie Dickinson. I loved seeing Mia Sara (Ferris Bueller) who is fine as the captive of the deranged couple (Burt & Angie) until her husband (miraculously) stumbles across the property while our searching for his missing wife and child. Low budget, mediocre and derivative, I wish I had watched 'Hooper' again instead!

This starts off as quite a well spun, psychological drama, until our oblivious innocents meet Burt and his deranged family. Reynolds really does a good job of playing the madman of a deranged family, still living in denial, of losing close loved ones, until Sara and daughter step into the picture, as familiar replacements, and becoming entrapped in the nutter's house. Dickerson, is very good as the deranged wife, overacting some notches. But they do give quite scary and trying performances in a dumb movie, that becomes more preposterous, as scenes become more preposterous, with some unbefitting music scores, excluding the major one I liked, the best thing about this film. The scene early on with husband, arguing with Sara's sister, not too fond of this guy, was just laughable, where you just can't take this one seriously as a scary thriller. It's just too dumb. The little girl of the nutters, equally nutty, gets on your nerves too. There were some moments, she actually made me uncomfortable. The pudgy cop, who sort of looks like Newman from Seinfeld, was the other plus, in a film, left better on the shelves. Stay away.

How low is Burt Reynolds willing to stoop, during this late phase of his career? Apparently pretty low indeed, judging from this tedious thriller that was barely released theatrically. Reynolds seems miscast in his change-of-pace villainous role, and the snail-like pacing and poor production values remove most of the "entertainment value" this movie might had possessed. (*1/2)

The Maddening is a trashy, low-budget flick with a "big" star. I couldn't figure out why Burt Reynolds would appear in something like this, especially since he's always seemed so vain, I didn't think he'd have it in him to play a "bad guy." Looking back, this was made around the time of his divorce from Loni Anderson and the cancellation of his TV Show, so his star was definitely on the decline at the time. Maybe he needed the money to pay for lawyers? That being said, Burt is one of the few really good things in this film. His understated performance and on-screen charisma kept me watching even when the story and terribly pacing made me want to turn it off.

Unfortunately there's only so much that actors can do with material. This film is paced so poorly, and the story is so one-dimensional (just waiting for all of the characters to converge for the final show-down) that there's little the actors can do to help.