IMDb RATING
6.0/10
8.6K
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A prominent judge, his wife, her ex-lover, and their neighbor encounter a dead body that complicates their lives.A prominent judge, his wife, her ex-lover, and their neighbor encounter a dead body that complicates their lives.A prominent judge, his wife, her ex-lover, and their neighbor encounter a dead body that complicates their lives.
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- 1 win & 1 nomination total
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The acting is pretty good, and seeing Harvey Keitel playing in a dark comedy was a pleasant surprise. What was not so pleasant was the plot. It starts out looking like another attempt to get rid of a dead body, like "Enid is Sleeping" or Drop Dead Sexy". What it winds up being is an overly complicated, convoluted black comedy, that is only marginally successful. Some of the plot contrivances are so unrealistic that they weaken the entire movie. Things like the postcard, a vodka bottle, and most of all a runaway chainsaw are nothing but ludicrous distractions. To top things off we get a completely unnecessary boat explosion as part of the astoundingly unbelievable conclusion. Very average at best. - MERK
10aro-2
Get this plot line: married couple Keitel and Diaz are on vacation (honeymoon, maybe, can't remember), on a small island. Their only neighbor is Sheffer, a friend of Diaz. Along comes Zane, as Diaz's ex-lover. He talks Diaz into letting him stay the night. The next morning when Diaz goes to check on him, he's dead. Cause of death is, appearantly, a heart attack. At that same moment Keitel and Sheffer are arriving on shore. She tries to hide the body, but Keitel stumbles onto it (literally). Did I mention that Keitel is a judge? He believes that the only solutions would be to dispose of the body, or possibly be charged with murder. At that point the question arises about his death. Could it have been murder? If so, let's look at the suspects. Diaz obviously didn't kill him, so that leaves the other two. Is it Keitel, the possibly jealous husband, or Sheffer? This plot has "potential" written all over it.
Head Above Water is a remarkable black comedy with great performances and a great script that keeps you guessing. Just when you think you've found the killer, along comes some new evidence to point you in another direction. It plays great as both a Mystery and a Comedy, although the comedy is quite subtle. Anyone with a taste for mystery and comedy is in for a real surprise. Even if you aren't into those genre's, you'll still enjoy this great film. It would be extremely hard to dislike, because it's just so much fun.
Head Above Water is a remarkable black comedy with great performances and a great script that keeps you guessing. Just when you think you've found the killer, along comes some new evidence to point you in another direction. It plays great as both a Mystery and a Comedy, although the comedy is quite subtle. Anyone with a taste for mystery and comedy is in for a real surprise. Even if you aren't into those genre's, you'll still enjoy this great film. It would be extremely hard to dislike, because it's just so much fun.
"Head Above Water" certainly isn't a classic film or anything, yet it's probably worth a watch even though the film is short and the humor is dark and the plot is somewhat weak. The performances from Diaz and Keitel make it worth a view. Cameron Diaz as sexy as ever stars as Nathalie a free spirited young lady who's had a rough past with substance abuse, and supposedly now that her spouse is a judge named George(Harvey Keitel)her problems have washed ashore at their summer beach place. Upon a visit from an ex flame of Nathalie's a young man Kent(Billy Zane)takes an unexpected departure and things only become more complex when nearby friend Lance(Craig Sheffer)rounds out the mix in what is found to be a triple love triangle! Overall nothing great it's just some good and sexy work from Diaz in one of her early works as the plot just unravels to show a slick and messy triple love triangle.
If you looking a dark comedy - stop your research you found it. Head Above Water is an awesome surprise and very funny movie. One of most strange couples on the screen that I saw(Cameron Diaz and Harvey Keitel) give a special touch to the Wilson's movie. Reccomended to all
I really enjoyed the performances in this film. Harvey Keitel again proves his tremendous range. Cameron Diaz is a very talented comedic actress and her makeup is very skillfully applied in this film. Billy Zane is again a third wheel (see Dead Calm and Titanic) but this time it's a comedy. The plot twists and turns are great fun to follow. 8/10.
Did you know
- TriviaThe movie is based on the Norwegian movie Head Above Water (1993). Nils Gaup, director of the original, said about it: "Twice Hollywood has remade my films, and both times they have managed to make the worst movie ever." The other movie being Pathfinder : Le Sang du guerrier (2007).
- GoofsIt takes two people to carry the corpse from the house to the motor boat but later the judge is able to carry it on his own from the boat up a hill where he mixes cement, which sets very quickly, to cover it.
- Crazy creditsAt the very end of the credits, after the copyright notice, there's an additional scene showing Lance's bird, Mo, on a cliff near the shore, chewing on the remains of Kent's postcard.
- SoundtracksPlease, Please, Please
Written by James Brown (uncredited) and Johnny Terry (uncredited)
Performed by James Brown
- How long is Head Above Water?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $32,212
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $11,589
- Jun 29, 1997
- Gross worldwide
- $32,212
- Runtime1 hour 32 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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