Pretty Thing

The rating is even too generous - this film deserves no more than a 3/10 on IMDb, not 4.

First of all, there is absolutely no sense of dynamics: the runtime drags painfully with zero suspense, zero tension - everything is dull, flat, and monotonous, with nothing but uninspired bedroom scenes.

Secondly, it claims to be an "erotic thriller." What a joke. Dear casting directors, at least bother to choose actors who actually fit the format. Alicia Silverstone looks older than Jamie Lee Curtis in the latest Halloween films - and that completely kills any trace of "eroticism." Hollywood is full of actresses in their late 40s and 50s who still look stunning, magnetic, and convincing: Malin Åkerman, Rebecca Romijn, Natasha Henstridge - real women with charisma, magnetism, and fire. This is not her role. Instead, we're given a tired lead who doesn't fit the role at all.

Third, the stalker theme is beyond worn out. Here it's presented on the level of a mediocre daytime soap: no depth, no clever twist, no psychological tension whatsoever.

The plot is embarrassingly primitive, the directing weak, the casting a complete misfire.

Final verdict: a worthless imitation of an "erotic thriller" that has neither eroticism nor thrills. Strongly not recommended.

PRETTY THING has a dark, psychedelic, and sensual atmosphere! The soundtrack and cinematography are excellent and help to create this atmosphere! The performances and chemistry between Karl GLUSMAN and Alicia SILVERSTONE are excellent! The film isn't perfect... but it's good entertainment with the iconic, beautiful, and sexy Alicia SILVERSTONE!

It's incredible how SILVERSTONE manages to be sexy without being vulgar! As for actor Karl GLUSMAN... I was impressed by his performance! At times, I empathized and understood his obsession with the character "Sophie"! Director Justin Kelly has delivered another fine work after the impactful KING COBRA.

Sophie spots Elliot at a party where he is working as a waiter. She spends the night with him and for their second date, she takes him to Paris. Elliot is an awkward loner, living with his sick mother and has no friends. He quickly gets obsessed with Sophie and believes they are meant to be together. However, Sophie loses interest in him and moves on, leading to a break up Elliot isn't ready to accept. He becomes her stalker and tries to torment her. How does she solve this problem of her's, forms rest of the story.

It's a confused screenplay that doesn't want to be an erotic thriller entirely but also wants to play it safe by not wanting to paint Elliot as an outright creep. What's normal Sophie is something extraordinary for him and he doesn't have any history of violence. But these are just passed off as mere information and the writing doesn't try to explore this aspect. To makes matters worse, their relationship isn't steamy enough to set the obsessive story and the chemistry between them just doesn't work. Elliot is turned into an easy problem to solve for Sophie yet the stalking game gets dragged for too long and the abrupt climax simply showcased how clueless the writers got by the end. Pretty Thing suffers from a tedious screenplay and doesn't have a single redeeming quality in it's entire runtime.

Pretty Thing started off much better than I expected, since I was expecting some cheesy made for TV movie. Karl Glusman steals this film from Alicia Silverstone , with him playing an emotionally immature momma's boy and her playing a role usually reserved for men, a powerful, well off executive. The movie does a great job at explaining it's character's personalities and motivations, but I have to wonder if the people behind this intended to make the female character so unsympathetic and awful. While I enjoyed the film when it concentrated on Glusman's character, it all of a sudden switches to her point of view and goes downhill. Since his character is actually more likable and you feel for him, the movie just seems odd and the ending is genuinely a huge letdown. It's a shame they kind of dropped the plot, because the acting is excellent and the scenes are played in a very realistic way.

Having seen over 6000 movies / series - I think I'm a pretty good critic and open to new actors / actresses coming into the movie industry seeing that the older famous actors are starting to go.

The general acting was good, film work was good, it's not of the highest standard but overall good. I personally felt the movie moved too slowly going forward and not actually setting the scene up.

Story line could have been a little more exciting or maybe a twist. It's an erotic thriller but if you were looking for a fifty shades of grey your going to be disappointed and for thriller it would I guess lean more to a drama.

Ending could have been better or a twist at the end. I gave it a 5/10 seeing it was not great yet not terrible.