Woman Undone

"Woman Undone" is an exercise in bad moviemaking. The story is idiotic, the dialogue is amateurish, and the acting is wooden. The cinematography is unimpressive. The movie even looks bad, like it was shot on cheap film stock.

There are a few capable actors here, but none of them seem particularly enthused about being involved in this nonsense.

Mary McDonnell plays Terri, an unhappy wife who has relocated to L. A. with her jealous, moody husband (Randy Quaid). In the opening scenes, they're out in the desert, and he is burned to a crisp in their car while she stands on a hill with a horrified look on her face. The local sheriff is sympathetic after what appears to be a horrible accident. No big spoiler: It's not. An autopsy reveals that The charred corpse of her husband had a bullet in his brain.

A semi-retired lawyer (Sam Elliott) agrees to take Terri's case when she is arrested for murder. Just to add to the silliness, we learn in flashbacks that Terri has been boffing a young swim instructor (Benjamin Bratt, in what must be his dumbest role ever).

Did Terri murder her husband? The outcome is somewhat unexpected, but it doesn't lend any sympathy to her pathetic character.

You'll watch this one with a smirk on your face, and you'll cringe repeatedly as you witness some genuinely terrible film making. It's so bad that it's almost fun.

I actually thought it was a parody at first... the people in it are pretty good actors. I could not stop watching because it was hard to believe it was continuing to be so bad... dialog stiff, strange, odd... story line pretty close to a laugh...but never quite made it...oh, I'm lying, maybe when we found out she shot her husband to keep him from suffering when he got stuck in a burning car... that was so far-fetched, esp. since she was cheating on him with a young hottie and planned on getting a divorce... wish the writer had dared to take this one over the edge. With more work, it might have been a great parody. Unless you're desperate or a movie masochist, skip this one.

Interesting lead actors and their characters were involving enough to make me stick it out to the end of this so-so film. Sam Elliott played the only likable character. He's solid as the lawyer in here.

Mary McDonnell, famous for playing "Stands With A Fist" in "Dances With Wolves," plays a cheating wife and Randy Quaid, usually a comedian, is anything but here, playing an abusive husband.

Most of the story is told in flashback after Quaid is killed fairly early on.

It's kind of a soap opera at times but kept my interest going just to see what would happen to McDonell's character, "Teri Hansen."

Very minor variations on the age old lovers triangle. There was a bit of hope, but uninspired writing provided cardboard, two-dimensional characters. Even Sam Elliott, who I usually enjoy, comes off flat. To me, the movie was in large part a waste of time UNTIL the last few minutes when a bit of an interesting twist on the ending was somewhat redemptive, moving my 2/10 to 4/10.

When I was an editor I was hired to create a promo for a film distributing convention for "A Woman Undone". What was most enjoyable about the job was that I could use any background music I wanted because the finished product would not be seen by any paying customers. I chose music by Bernard Herrmann written for a 1971 British film, The Night Digger. I was very proud of my final product. I feel that I made the Showtime film intriguing and suspenseful when it may have not been. A bit of trivia is that One of the actresses, Georgann Johnson went to school with my mother, Marjorie Talle.

Dean Peter Merriman.