Incubo d'amore

Nice thriller with a decent amount of mystery let down by a rather abrupt ending. It's a shame because the film moves along nicely and is well executed for the first hour and slowly loses It's way. James Spader is good in the lead role & Madchen Amick is brilliant in her best role to date. Amick is never better than here as we learn more and more about her character and what's true and false. Just a shame about that ending though.

For you classical movie fans and fans of the Fifties music scene, this film Dream Lover will not contain a note of either Jeanette MacDonald's first film hit song from The Love Parade or will you hear Bobby Darin's hit from the Fifties, both entitled Dream Lover. Neither song while different in style is positive in nature and wouldn't be right in this very downer of a thriller.

James Spader can't believe his luck in finding Madchen Amick, she's the perfect beautiful woman. He must feel like Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell Smith when they created Kelly LeBrock in Weird Science. This woman is an eleven plus and after a divorce from Bess Armstrong, Spader's in need of reassurance that he's still got it.

They marry and have children, but gradually he starts noticing little things that she always has a perfect explanation, but rattle Spader beyond the point of endurance. When he starts investigating his wife, Spader finds a lot of things just don't add up.

Dream Lover is a neat little thriller that will keep you guessing right to the end who is going to come out on top. In fact neither of them really do, or at least that's how I view the film.

Spader, Amick and the rest of the cast respond well to writer/director Nicholas Kazan's script and guidance. When Spader starts investigating the past of his wife and finds she's just a down home girl from Texas instead of what she puts out, he meets up with William Shockley her old boy friend. His one scene in the film with Spader will leave an indelible impression.

In fact Dream Lover will leave an indelible impression on you.

It's too bad that bigger budget Hollywood fare often obscures movies that are far better such as this. I wasn't expecting a whole lot from this film as I'd not heard much about it, but was totally captivated by it.

The performances from James Spader and the achingly beautiful Mädchen Amick are first rate, and the script is flawless. A lot of the plot feels like a rehash of Hitchcock, but it's done incredibly well, and hey, if you're going to steal from someone, might as well steal from the best.

The twists and turns really work, and take the viewer along for the ride as well. You'll find your own mind working along with the script, trying to unravel the mystery.

It's a shame this film didn't receive more publicity, as all the elements are there for this to have been a real hit. Instead, it remains one of my favorite little gems of a film... one of those that few people know about, but when they see it they think it's a great film as well.

An added bonus is that the home video version contains a few minutes of extra "steamy" scenes that were cut from theaters.

I think this film is an underappreciated modern-day classic, and I urge everyone to check it out.

Perhaps the allusions to Hitchcock are not warranted, but the first time I saw this I was knocked out. DREAM LOVER has a tightly wound plot and fine performances by the entire cast. Nick Kazan has some great dialogue in here like "What you think is paranoia is heightened awareness." Some folks might fault Spader's character as very stupid (really, you should find out as much as you can about a potential mate before marrying them!) Still, this a great neo noir thriller that really goes to show that beauty is often skin deep. Definitely worth a rent.

James Spader is affable as an architect named Ray, who divorced his first wife after she fooled around. Then a new woman comes into his life: the enticing, gorgeous Lena (Madchen Amick), and he soon becomes smitten, to the point of marrying her and fathering children with her. Then he realizes how badly he's screwed up by marrying a woman to whom lying is second nature. She's a master manipulator with a personality for different occasions.

Although not altogether satisfying (especially the ending), "Dream Lover" is a decent suspense-thriller. It treads on pretty familiar ground overall, but writer / director Nicholas Kazan (son of the legendary Elia Kazan) tells a reasonably entertaining story. It spices things up with a bit of sex and nudity (there is an unrated version of this that was released on laserdisc), and Kazan is capable at continuing to throw twists and turns at us. His framework is the most interesting, original element, as it contains scenes of Ray at a carnival where the workers accost him with details of the plot.

The truth is that you can't feel too much sympathy for Ray, as he buys all this trouble by getting involved with a stranger without bothering to learn very much about her. But Spader is good as always, and is surrounded by good actors and familiar faces: Fredric Lehne, Bess Armstrong, and comedian / actor Larry Miller (the main source of comedy relief, obviously) play his friends, and other actors and actresses like Scott Coffey, Clyde Kusatsu, William Shockley, Irwin Keyes, Janel Moloney, Robert David Hall, Paul Ben-Victor, and Erick Avari comprise a solid supporting cast. Still, Madchen is the compelling primary asset of "Dream Lover": looking delectable throughout, she's a treat to watch as she switches on a dime when it comes to her personality shifts.

Kazan does come up with some good dialogue, especially that "paranoia is actually heightened awareness" line. And he & his cast keep this engrossing most of the way, even though that resolution is bound to leave viewers wanting.

Seven out of 10.