L'ultima seduzione

A devious sexpot steals her husband's drug money and hides out in a small town where she meets the perfect dupe for her next scheme.

The rumor is that this film was intended to be a "skin flick" but the people involved wanted to make something a little bit better. What they ended up with was a thriller not unlike "Basic Instinct" and "Fatal Attraction". In a world full of stupid men, a crafty woman can control her destiny.

How well this film is known, I do not know. I wasn't aware of it. But enough people have rated it on IMDb that it must have been big at the time. Heck, there are rumors that it almost got an Oscar nomination. (Lots of "rumors" with this film... not sure what to believe.)

Fiorentino has a field day as one of the most despicable women ever to be featured in a film. Her character is tough, self-centered, mean-spirited, and sexy femme fatale who absconds with her husband's drug money and tries to get her ninny of a boyfriend to kill him. The plot is quite contrived and the characters bear no resemblance to real people, with Fiorentino appearing to be a genius in a world of dim-witted men. The acting is pretty good. Berg is likable as Fiorentino's boyfriend, a decent fellow who has to balance his hormones with his morality. Pullman seems to be having fun playing the betrayed spouse. The score sets the right mood.

Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino) is a telemarketing manager running a croaked boiler room. Her husband Clay Gregory (Bill Pullman) sells stolen pharmaceuticals for a big payday. She steals his money and leaves NYC. She stops at Beston on her way to Chicago. Mike Swale (Peter Berg) is tired of small town girls. She walks into the bar and he's smitten. Her lawyer Frank Griffith (J.T. Walsh) tells her to stay put while he starts the divorce. She gets a job as Wendy Kroy but Mike happens to work at the company. Clay is desperate to pay off a loan shark and manages to track her to an area code. Then he figures out that New York backwards is Wen Kroy and sends Harlan (Bill Nunn) to find Wendy.

The bar scene is terrific and it's all about Linda Fiorentino. That goes for the whole movie. Her character is a real piece. Peter Berg is a good sucker and Bill Pullman is a good sleaze. It's surprisingly funny at times. It's all attitude and Fiorentino is dripping in it. Her dialog is neo-noir and snappy. I love the dark turns and her glee with making those turns.

An incredibly amoral and very sexy woman (Linda Fiorentino) is on the lam from her husband (Bill Pullman) after stealing thousands of dollars from him. She travels to a small town and gets involved with a sweet, innocent man (Peter Berg)...but he's just her next victim.

There's a lot more to it but I won't give it away. The plot is intricate with many twists and turns. The dialogue sounds like it came from a 1940s noir (updated with swearing) but this isn't anything like those movies. This movie has graphic sex scenes and incredibly cruel acts that they could never get away with back then. It also has good acting by Berg and Pullman (who is very obviously enjoying himself). There's also good direction by John Dahl and an excellent score by Joseph Vitarelli which totally fits the tone of the film. But it's Fiorentino's show all the way--she's on screen almost all the time and her performance is superb. She's sexy and evil and actually enjoys using people--notice how she laughs after a few evil acts. Too bad this film premiered on cable--if it were a theatrical film first she would have been up for Best Actress.

Only two quibbles--at 110 minutes the nonstop evil and cruelty wears you down and I didn't buy a few things that happened at the climax. They seemed really unlikely and spoiled things a little. But those are minor complaints.

This is a good, evil film noir--well worth catching.

This is the story of Bridget (Linda Fiorentino), a tall (5'7"), slender, throaty voiced brunette who cheats her husband (Bill Pullman) out of some drug money and runs for it. She heads to "cow country" where she hooks up with nice guy Mike (Peter Berg) and makes him her designated [BLEEP]. But when her husband comes knocking on her door intending to take back his money (and sends a series of guys after her) Bridget gets ready to kill him and set Mike up for the fall.

Had this been properly released in theaters, it could very well have put Fiorentino on the map, maybe even gotten her an Oscar for best actress in the role of the femme fatale. I wasn't exactly rooting for her, but she sure was compelling to watch and very sexy.

And speaking of sexy, the film features some very powerful sex scenes that put just about everything we've ever seen in the James Bond films to shame. Oh what a Bond girl Linda Fiorentino would have made, and after seeing her stripped naked here, you'll agree.