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Malice
In the tradition of films like Out of the Past and Body Heat comes 1993's Malice, a sizzling noir-ish type thriller that takes its time getting to the story it really intends to tell, but is consistently watchable thanks to a superb cast working at the top of their game.
Andy (Bill Pullman) is a college dean married to Tracy (Nicole Kidman), a teacher, who are happily married but have been having trouble conceiving a child. Their troubles are further complicated when a medical condition of Tracy's forces Dr. Jed Hill (Alec Baldwin), an arrogant surgeon we're told has a "God complex", performs emergency surgery on Tracy that required the removal of one of her ovaries, forbidding her from having children permanently. Tracy leaves Andy for giving the doctor permission to operate on her and sues the doctor for $20,000,000, but it's not long before it's revealed that Tracy is not the hapless victim that she originally appears to be.
Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) and Scott Frank (Minority Report) have constructed a screenplay that is initially centered around a fascinating character in this Jed Hill, putting an arrogant surgeon in the position of possible losing his entire career but deciding instead to tell a much more conventional story about infidelity and blackmail, which is a viable story, but a much more interesting story could have been told here centering on the destruction of this self-absorbed surgeon who refuses to admit that what he did to Tracy was wrong. It's probably no coincidence that the hearing in the attorney's office where Tracy and her attorney press formal charges reminded me of the hearing scenes in The Social Network.
The story that is eventually told here is quite unsettling for myriad reasons. It's hard to believe that Tracy would go to the elaborate lengths that she does here. It was unclear how Jed and Tracy were able to manipulate that entire hearing in order to make it appear that she was suing Jed. Some of the detective work that Andy does to figure out what was going on didn't make a lot of sense either.
What does work here is some terrific performances that really help engage the viewer. Alec Baldwin, whose career has recently been reduced to playing Donald Trump on SNL, shows what a powerhouse actor he really is here and is perfectly complimented by Kidman's bitchy temptress. Bill Pullman also offers the finest performance of his career as the cuckolded Andy. Josef Summer and Peter Gallagher offer solid support and I loved a pair of classy cameos by the late George C. Scott and Anne Bancroft. A drama that remains watchable despite a muddy screenplay.
In the tradition of films like Out of the Past and Body Heat comes 1993's Malice, a sizzling noir-ish type thriller that takes its time getting to the story it really intends to tell, but is consistently watchable thanks to a superb cast working at the top of their game.
Andy (Bill Pullman) is a college dean married to Tracy (Nicole Kidman), a teacher, who are happily married but have been having trouble conceiving a child. Their troubles are further complicated when a medical condition of Tracy's forces Dr. Jed Hill (Alec Baldwin), an arrogant surgeon we're told has a "God complex", performs emergency surgery on Tracy that required the removal of one of her ovaries, forbidding her from having children permanently. Tracy leaves Andy for giving the doctor permission to operate on her and sues the doctor for $20,000,000, but it's not long before it's revealed that Tracy is not the hapless victim that she originally appears to be.
Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) and Scott Frank (Minority Report) have constructed a screenplay that is initially centered around a fascinating character in this Jed Hill, putting an arrogant surgeon in the position of possible losing his entire career but deciding instead to tell a much more conventional story about infidelity and blackmail, which is a viable story, but a much more interesting story could have been told here centering on the destruction of this self-absorbed surgeon who refuses to admit that what he did to Tracy was wrong. It's probably no coincidence that the hearing in the attorney's office where Tracy and her attorney press formal charges reminded me of the hearing scenes in The Social Network.
The story that is eventually told here is quite unsettling for myriad reasons. It's hard to believe that Tracy would go to the elaborate lengths that she does here. It was unclear how Jed and Tracy were able to manipulate that entire hearing in order to make it appear that she was suing Jed. Some of the detective work that Andy does to figure out what was going on didn't make a lot of sense either.
What does work here is some terrific performances that really help engage the viewer. Alec Baldwin, whose career has recently been reduced to playing Donald Trump on SNL, shows what a powerhouse actor he really is here and is perfectly complimented by Kidman's bitchy temptress. Bill Pullman also offers the finest performance of his career as the cuckolded Andy. Josef Summer and Peter Gallagher offer solid support and I loved a pair of classy cameos by the late George C. Scott and Anne Bancroft. A drama that remains watchable despite a muddy screenplay.