Um Crime Passional

No pun intended - Diane Kruger whom I (and I assume many others) had discovered in the movie Troy, has been in quite a lot of movies. I assume she tries to get better scripted stuff than this most of the time. But one has to pay the bills too - also the script may have sounded better than what came out of it - including all the cliches we get served .... you almost know from the get go what is what.

The main male character seems weird - and he has quite the character flaws. Also he changes attitude ... and intellect it seems. So I get the 4 rating ... what saves it a little for me: Hank Azaria ... the guy has fun to say the least! I actually would love to see a spin off with him playing that character! There is a way more interesting movie there ... and him being here and there (character wise) ... well I can take and dig that to a degree. He has the charisma to carry that though ... also be aware, while this is rated R, there is no real nudity in this. If this is one of the reasons you watch.. well thrillers like this one. Still it gets steamy from time to time - just don't lose your mind over it ... although you won't really care in the end ... twists and all that.

I cannot believe I just got sucked in and watched this entire movie. The main reason for its low rating is the acting. Krueger and Azaria were the only decent actors. I felt like I was watching a Nickelodeon teen soap. Well, with a little more spice and violence. The story itself wasn't too bad but it started spiraling near the end. The very ending was the WORST. Please...with all the creative people in Hollywood I am sure they can do a better job than this! The only thing this movie had going for it was the scenery. Looks like it takes place in the northeast and it's just gorgeous! That's the only way it got its 1 star.

I wanted to see this since I love neo-noir films and I usually love Neil Labute films, but this was just a Lifetime movie with some sex scenes thrown in, and the acting is about par with a Lifetime movie as well, except for Hank Azaria, who overacts erratically from scene to scene.

Everything that is going to happen is telegraphed in every scene, so the viewer can predict everything that's going to happen including the twist ending, which wasn't much of a twist because that was telegraphed also. I would have had more fun with this if the movie hadn't forced all its cards so deliberately out into the open, but as it is, I just kept watching to see if I was right. And I was, so there's that..

The movie is well filmed, well played (even if it is not well-written) but makes no sense and has a plot that is weak to say the least.

There are screen cards telling you the time that passes between each scene as in silent movies. I understand the intention : this is not reality but an interpretation of it by the main character. It does not work because these cards are there every two minutes. They become very annoying and cut the fluidity of the story. It gives the impression taht every scene is a sketch independent from the other scenes, thus creating a story that isn't one. You lose interest pretty fast in my opinion.

The story in tiself is pretty basic. I think the directior who also wrote this movie wanted to look at this genre (the erotic thriller) with a cynical eye. But if that was the case, the movie in general takes itself too seriously for it to be a critique piece of this cheap gimmicky genre.

And well the end is a gimmick made to shock us and reveal the absurdity of this kind of movies. But it is a bit forced and cringy.

Maybe I am reading to much in this, but there are not any black actors or extras on-screen. Is the director saying that these thriller-thingys are often all-white. It made me wonder and it is true that these erotic-thrillers that I saw lately (the Affleck one adapted from Highsmith's novel...and others I don't remember the titles) are all-white cast. They are all pretty bad too.

I think it is time to declare these thrillers dead and begin to make thrillers where the story takes central stage instead of the twists. Deceivng the audience is cool and all-that, but not when it impoverishes the plot and takes the audience for a "babbling bumbling band of baboons".

I will give this 4 for the actors and the director's filming but even if it is a critique it is not a well made one.

Follows similar story of 1981's Body Heat.

Could tell the director's decisions were aiming to have some sort of artistic value added but were questionable and fell short of the desired effect - odd transitions, meaningless scenes, forced music, and long scenes with dialogue that felt redundant failing to move the story forward.

Hard to root for or get attached to any of the characters - none of them felt real, all kind of forced stereotypes. Each of the main characters (Diane Kruger and Ray Nicholson) were equally mysterious, but didn't feel like any substance between them, just physical attraction. The dialogue and decisions they made felt more like a Hollywood creation than anything based on reality or logical thinking.

Side characters were pretty good. The boyfriend (Yousef Abu-Taleb) at the end stole the movie for me and felt like the only real character in entire story. Parole officer (Hank Azaria) was good, his intro scene playing the role of a no non-sense tough cop was over the top. The deputy (Fred Weller) was even more over the top, but felt more in-line with the spiteful, I am the law, kinda persona a cop on a power-trip gives off.

Entire time watching, felt like a different take on Body Heat. Want to again mention weird transitions - if the director.(Neil. LaBute) reads this, what are you doing??