The Right Temptation

Nicely photographed, with an interesting and appealing lead character, this film slowly draws you in as you try to follow all the plot twists, deciding who is the bad guy and who is manipulating whom. While borrowing themes from Fatal Attraction, this film owes more of its feel to film noir detective films of the 1950s. The old fashioned names of the characters add to that atmosphere. You'll be hard pressed to follow all the subtleties of The Right Temptation but you will also find that it's worth the effort to pay attention. This is a film worth watching if you're in the mood for a thriller with a few twists to its plot.

I saw this movie, on cable, late at night. That, alone, should tell you something. This movie reads like pulp fiction, true. But, that's really all it is. You can tell by the title that it isn't Casablanca. It isn't Gone With the Wind. It isn't even Shawshank Redemption. It's *the right temptation*!!! The word "temptation" should tell you that it's not an oscar winner, folks. So, understanding that it is really nothing more than a romance novel bred with a crime drama...I enjoyed it (A LOT!). There is so much sexual tension in this movie, and the characters are insanely complex. I enjoyed some of the unique bits in this movie; for example, the starlets aren't 18...they actually have a few lines on their face. The lead character also has a pet pig. More than anything I wanted to stand up for Kiefer Sutherland in this movie. I became a fan of his only because of his acting in this film...it's so moving. During a very emotional part of the movie, he started welling up with tears and was so damn moving that I started CRYING (something that I do NOT do at movies...ever). He did a really good job, as did everyone in this movie. The script was cheesy and very pulpy...but if you like corny lines delivered by good actresses/actors, you'll love this movie.

A female P.I., estimated to be "The Right Temptation", is hired by a women to try to seduce her wealthy husband thereby testing his loyalty...blaa, blaa. So begins another plasticized, predictable, trite formula Hollywood clone noirish mystery with characters too shallow, patter too glib, and story too pat. There's nothing here for an audience to sink their teeth into leaving one to just sit back and zone.

This film has a good story that unravels at the end. Still, for a small independent film, it is intriguing, handling the mystery element well. Derien (Rebecca De Mornay) is a former vice cop now working as a private detective. Anthea (Dana Delaney) hires her to follow her husband Michael (Kiefer Sutherland) to see if he is cheating on her. After a few uneventful days of surveillance, Anthea is still not satisfied, so she adds a new dimension to the assignment. She proposes that Derien try to seduce her husband to test his fidelity. His response is predictable; the rest is not.

The story has some interesting and innovative twists, but becomes incongruous at the end. Without giving away the ending, all I can say is the director needed to do more research on forensics, because a suspect who is arrested for murder in the film would have been cleared 30 minutes after being detained in the real world.

The cast gives a solid performance. Kiefer Sutherland has played so many demented characters in his career that it is something of a shock seeing him in so normal a role. His character is no angel, but at least he isn't a sociopath. Sutherland gives a good performance but makes his character almost too nice. Rebecca De Mornay is back in shape, after a flaccid performance in `A Table for One'. This is actually the best I can remember her in quite some time. She is effective at rendering a character that is tough on the outside and tortured on the inside, with more than one weak spot in her psyche. Dana Delany is devious and duplicitous as the scheming wife.

Overall, this B movie could have been better, but it is far from bad. I rated it a 6/10. If you enjoy mysteries, it might be worth a try.

I was beginning to wonder about Kiefer Sutherland. Despite 17 years in the business and nearly 50 films, he's had few romantic moments on screen, particularly if you discount the coming-of-age stories he did early in his career. Thus, it was a real treat to see him in a sexy, mature romantic role in "The Right Temptation," and he was certainly up to the task.

Kiefer's talented enough that he can almost always find a way to shine, even when the material is weak, and both he and Dana Delany do so in this movie. Too bad the married couple they play (Michael and Anthea) has zero screen time together. Some well-scripted give-and-take between these two (steamy or not) could have added some interesting twists to the tale. Rebecca DeMornay (Darien), who's ostensibly the center of this piece, panted well enough during those love scenes with Michael, but either didn't have the skill to carry the lead or was hopelessly constrained by the script. Take your pick. In particular, the background story, which was supposed to give us insight into Darien's character and motivation, was simply flat. You kept wishing it would stop intruding at every turn.

The movie is only decent, but see it for the love scenes. It's always exhilarating to watch actors who can effectively convey sexual passion without having to reveal all their assets in the process.