This movie had been in my Netflix Queue for sometime and I decided to give it a watch after meeting Mary Elizabeth Mastrontonio in person (very gracious lady). Anyway, I'd seen the film before, but it had been many years. After viewing it again this time around, I came to the same conclusion. The first half of the story is very engaging and interesting. Kevin Spacey is brilliant in one of his early roles. Mastrontonio and Kline are also very appealing. You like the characters and you care about them. However, the second half of the film, the "thriller" portion, is so lame and unrealistic that I completely lost interest. It's as if the writers simply gave up on how to finish this film off. They created very interesting characters, set up a nice story, but the story didn't have anyplace interesting to go. I'd love for someone to try a rewrite of this thing. Anyway, not much going on here with this film. The only relevance it has is if you are a Spacey, Kline, or Mastrontonio fan. Rating 5 of 10 stars and that is being somewhat kind.
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treeskier8023 April 2010
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Here's a film I thought was unfairly criticized by the national critics. Panned by about everyone, I thought this thriller was pretty good.
Yes, there is one major credibility gap in a key segment which I, too was ridiculous. (How can you make love to your neighbor, even in darkness, and not know who it is?!) Also, there is a clichéd ending, but that's not unusual in films.
Overall, however, I thought it was entertaining and nicely filmed. I'd like to see this on a DVD with a better transfer. The main actors - Kevin Kline, Kevin Spacey, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio - were all interesting, especially Spacey's villain character. It was also interesting to E. G. Marshall, who was a big star on television years ago. I'm sorry his role was so short.
The film also had good suspense. All of these are why I think the film is a lot better than it's considered. -
triple819 February 2006SPOILERS THROUGH:
I've seen this movie a couple of times and have to admit I moderately enjoyed it even though it's got a lot of flaws. I think the all around premise is intriguing enough and the cast is great but somehow the movie loses it's way and doesn't make the impact it could, though it always stays watchable.
The movie had several really good ways it could have gone. It could have kept away from the whole thriller thing and just been a relationship movie, concentrating on the couple swapping issue. It could have also gone in the Noir direction but as a halfway believable one. The problem with this movie is there are to many plot holes to count AND it plays sometimes like a horror film with all the try to scare tactics, numerous plot holes, and it just becomes to out there. It's disappointing because the central premise is really interesting.
The cast is good with Spacey stealing the film and being the standout. But ultimately the movie is disappointing because it starts out so interesting, with such a strong hook, that it ultimately becomes a bit of a letdown just when it reaches the pinnacle of being at it's most interesting.
The focus shifts from the multiple relationships of the characters, and becomes just another thriller with plot twists and plot holes that make no sense. There's a point when one thinks they can actually start counting the plot holes because there are so many of them. I'm not saying the twists(or some of them) aren't clever, but things needed to actually make some sense to make this movie go beyond entertaining which it is, into being a really good movie and that never happens.
I could go into some of the plot holes but that would make this review way to long. I will use one example though and that's when a certain woman is supposedly murdered. Then a man is arrested for the murder. He begins to suspect she wasn't killed and eventually finds out she's alive, a "lookalike" is killed. He goes to see this woman. They speak. Then she really IS killed. The same man is suspected of the second murder. But how come the police don't express any surprise that the second murder is the murder of someone who is supposed to be have already been murdered way earlier? Wouldn't the police react to that? Especially because the first woman who was murdered was identified by her own husband? Is this making sense to anyone? That's my Point. It still doesn't make sense to me. I actually did kind of like this movie. After all, I've seen it more then once. But I couldn't help being disappointed overall. I would rather have watched a movie about the four characters and how they interact rather then just another thriller. Consenting Adults is absorbing though, keeps one watching, has a great cast and can even be watched more then once without losing the element of intrigue. Spacey and the rest of the cast in general elevate this and the writing, with all it's implausibilities, is clever. Ultimately my vote is 6.5 and if one likes psychological thrillers and doesn't mind implausibility, this is your movie! 6.5 out of 10. -
mjw230529 December 2006Consenting adults has a strong cast, a decent script and a deeper than expected story, that builds and sustains enough tension throughout; without sinking into as much sexually explicit detail, as the title may suggest.
Kevin Kline, Kevin Spacey, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Rebecca Miller all portray there characters well, with Spacey and Miller stealing most of the credit.
Consenting Adults is a reasonably safe choice for most thriller fans, it's not the best out there; but its entertaining and intriguing enough to please.
6/10 -
namashi_11 April 2013Alan J. Pakula's 'Consenting Adults' is A Decent Thriller! It has some catchy moments & convincing performances working for it.
'Consenting Adults' Synopsis: A man is falsely accused of murdering his neighbor's wife.
'Consenting Adults' has its share of minuses, but what makes most of the goings-on work, is its brisk Screenplay Written by Matthew Chapman. It has some good, catchy moments, that are note-worthy. Alan J. Pakula's is perfect. Cinematography is good.
Performance-Wise: Kevin Kline is excellent. Has there ever been a better scene-stealer? Kevin Spacey makes a good menace, although he's been better. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is fabulous in a performance that ranks amongst her finest to date. Rebecca Miller is highly effective. Forest Whitaker is believable.
On the whole, 'Consenting Adults' has merits. -
rcraig6220 January 2005"Consenting Adults" simply proves what a Hollywood screenwriter can do when given a big budget, big stars and no imagination. Kevin Kline and Kevin Spacey play suburban neighbors who become unlikely friends then slowly descend into episodes of criminal mischief and debauchery.
The picture starts off well enough. We're introduced to Kline and his wife (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) and their musically gifted daughter. He's a composer of commercial jingles who appears to be placid and content in his boring, upper-middle-class ways. Then Spacey and his stunning wife (Rebecca Miller) move in next door, and Kline's character is suddenly awakened: Spacey is a real schmoozer, a "financial adviser" with a sharp mind and an engaging personality; Miss Miller is a bombshell, and one can sense that Kline wants a piece of her. The tension and complications build until Spacey suggests to Kline a one-night stand of wipe-swapping, each man accosting the other's wife, half-asleep in bed, so they are unaware of the identity of the lover (in theory, anyway). Kline refuses, but Spacey and the idea keep gnawing at him, and eventually, craving a scrap of excitement in his dull life, he gives in. The final consummation between Kline and Miller is a lovely shot; his bare body caught in shadows in front of a glittering window-dressing, partially lit by street lamps. Unfortunately, that's where the movie ends.
A few hours later, Miss Miller turns up dead, bashed with a baseball bat, and Kline, having had sex with her is cast as the murderer. From this point, nothing in the story appears to make much sense; its as though the screenplay was flowcharted by a computer programmer. This happens, then this, then this. Human emotions are never considered, and the movie becomes an acted-out cartoon, each actor assuming a caricature of something that fits a framework; any chance for texture in the performances is completely destroyed.
The plot is full of holes, and sometimes, in a truly suspenseful picture, the audience is willing to overlook it. Not this time. It's all so by-the-numbers, you can virtually guess what will happen next even though you don't understand why. If the dead girl wasn't Spacey's wife, then who was she? Why didn't Kline recognize her as a different girl when he rushed into the bedroom? (Do all vapid blondes look that much alike?) Why does Mastantonio immediately discount her husband's plea of innocence? (so much for 14 years of marriage) If she's so much happier with Spacey, why does she agree to play the tape? I considered that she might toss it in the lake they were standing by, but I knew she wouldn't. Then the computer program wouldn't run.
There's not much to like about the performances in this thing. Kevin Kline, it's been my long-held opinion, is only good when he's acting up a storm. When he plays a regular person, he's just boring, he radiates very little presence to the audience. He's not a convincing Everyman, as Jimmy Stewart was, he's just dismal and you don't really care whether he clears his name or not. The boringness is not so evident in the first part of the film (in fact, it fits), but once his life is on the line and he has reach to down deep for some reserve of passion, it isn't there. He's not compelling enough to be The Man Caught in the Web (he'd be lost in a Hitchcock picture). Kevin Spacey is superb in the early scenes as the sleazo Eddie, and he gives the picture its only zing; he has the right admixture of charm and smarm to draw you in and make you wary at the same time. But by the end, he's just another psychotic killer and his eyes gleam freakishly like Nicholson's in "The Shining". If there's such a thing as a cardboard cutout of a deviant, this is it. Audiences may like Forest Whitaker's subdued performance as a polite southern gentleman sniffing out the scam (he's like the Lovie Smith of insurance investigators), but it belongs in another movie.
A good movie could have been made from this material. From the crucial point of the wipe swap, it could have been a character study on how lives are destroyed by this kind of self-indulgent behavior, or at least a better thriller, with Spacey leading Kline into deeper and more diabolical adventures. But "Consenting Adults" is straight from the textbook, and a cursory-level high school textbook at that. -
DuChamp-35 October 1999. . .but the weirdest thing is - it is eerily similar to the Aykroyd/Belushi film "Neighbors." Heavily derided in it's time, it matters not whether you liked it, it had some really weird elements to it. NOW - take out the weird elements and leave a basic plot: "Exciting" guy with a bad bleach-job and his sexy wife move in next door to thoroughly-mundane guy and his attractive wife; who, by the way have a sexless marriage. Kline/Belushi are set up as "marks" immediately, and almost as immediately the new neighbors begin a contrived "seduction of the innocent". Soon, the mundane guy finds himself trapped in an existential hell of Blondie's making(Spacey/Aykroyd). Well. Consenting Adults is not a good movie - or even interesting. Spacey gives a charismatic performance as usual, but the script lacks any originality. This was another entry in the ". . .from Hell" high-concept series of scripts from the early-90's. Babysitter. . .Cop. . .Neighbor. . .Dentist. ..I wish I could say that the best parts of this film ended up on the editing room floor - considering the cast - but there's no way this script was ever anything but stale.
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Kevin Kline is cleverly framed for the murder of his best friend's wife, with a seemingly airtight case against him. Equal cleverness in working out this story seemed called for. Instead, the frame-up basically unravels by improbable happenstance and concludes with trite Hollywood-isms, finally throwing in the towel with a few assault-weapon blasts. Real subtle, yes?
Not too bad a way to pass the time, but ultimately a let-down.
Fans of Forest Whitaker ("The Crying Game") will be pleased to see this talented actor appearing as a very southern, shy, soft-spoken insurance investigator. -
savage-grrrl2 February 2008This movie is both unlikely and unlikeable. It is unlikely that good actors would sign on to such a ridiculous and implausible screenplay. Perhaps neither Kline nor Spacey read the script before agreeing to do this film. That seems the most plausible explanation.
At some point one would imagine that someone would have asked the director just why the audience should give a flying flip about the fate of the alleged protagonist. He is a man being framed for the murder of his neighbor, when he was only guilty of raping her. (I should also note that he had also arranged to have his own wife raped by the husband of his victim, but that man, the alleged antagonist, did not follow through. Instead he killed the woman Kline's character had assaulted and set out to frame him for it.) The women in this movie are as vapid as the men are vile. The framed character's wife ultimately forgives him when he is cleared of the murder without any regard for the fact that he had snuck over to their neighbor's house in the middle of the night to have sex with another woman without her consent. She also doesn't seem to mind that he had volunteered her for the same treatment. -
gridoon20248 November 2015"Consenting Adults" has a great premise, and the first half plays more like an observant drama about picture-perfect American suburbs, marital fidelity, the forbidden fruit, the pull of living on the edge, "does money buy you happiness?", etc. The second half is not as good as the first, and the violent climactic fight is particularly conventional. Yet on the whole this remains an above-average early-1990s thriller. Kevin Spacey's role is like a rehearsal for the double whammy of "calm psychopaths" that made him famous in 1995 ("Seven" and "The Usual Suspects"), Rebecca Miller makes a stunning femme fatale (or is she just an innocent victim? The fact that we don't know which for a long time is one of the film's strong points), the music score is very Bernard Herrmann-like, and the final shot is a very clever visual pun. **1/2 out of 4.
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chez-319 February 1999Considering the acting talent and the late, great director Alan J. Pakula you would expect "Consenting Adults" to be a top notch thriller. Think again. It starts off well but then slowly descends into silliness.
Kevin Kline and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio play a happily married couple in suburbia. In next store moves Kevin Spacey and his very sexy wife. As the men get to know one another Spacey continually hints that maybe the couples show switch for a night of wild sex. When Kline finally does agree Spacey's wife ends up dead. So far so good. Then the movie stumbles into cliches, predictability, and ridiculous scenes that make you wonder how the screenwriter let the good idea get away. -
merkabamusic18 March 2002highly underrated. spacey provides a top notch performance, as does the rest of the cast. there is a solid chemistry between all the players which far outshadows any scripting weakness. this is a very good film, with several plot twists and great pacing.
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Doc_Who10 October 1999This movie is a OK thriller if you like the main stars. It is good for a rental. The main stars swap wifes for sex and a nightmare begins. There is a lot of suspense going on. If you like either Kevin Spacey or Kevin Kline you might like this suspesneful scary thriller/drama!!!Constenting Adults felt at times a little like "Pacific Heights" . ( it just had a different premise!) Overall, it 's worthy of a least a rental!!
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jfrois6 January 2009Wow, this movie was so bad it was almost as funny as watching one of those awful Grade B sci-fi flicks Elvira used to show, but not quite. Surprised at the two Kevins--Kline and Spacey--whom I usually enjoy--being in this dud. The story line was highly implausible, the acting was terrible, the cinematography so unfocused that I can't believe this boring little blunder was even made. Even the singing was terrible. Kevin Kline's character, in it's own way, was almost as low as Spacey's, especially with the sneaky wife swapping part. After he has his way with the supposed Rebecca Miller character, he sits at his kitchen table next morning and tells his wife he loves her! Yeah, right!
Mastrantonio's character left a lot to be desired in the way of integrity, such as the way she leaped at accepting the fraudulently acquired insurance money and then acted self-righteous defending Eddie for having the nerve to fight to get the cash. She did look very pretty, however. If the Rebecca Miller character was a bombshell, why was she shot usually at fuzzy distances, never in a sharp close-up except in the end, in the dark, when her face is mostly concealed by a ridiculous red wig? Her bathtub scene was hilarious, especially when she rose from the water with her butt to the camera and put on her robe just standing there. Her attempts to look sizzling in Kline's voyeuristic eyes only made her look like she had cramps. Her performance was moribund, and Kline's ran a close second for morbidity. This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen and only the well-grounded talent of Spacey and Kline saved their careers in its aftermath. Spacey does get good marks for the diabolical expression on his face when Mastrantonio is trying to flee the beach house, flings up the door thinking he is gone, and there he is in all his evil glory hiding in the closet. That's about the only good thing I can say about this flick. -
tideprince4 January 2005This truly bland exercise in studio suspense proves once and for all that you can put all the talent in the world together, but if the script doesn't work, you're wasting your time. It does have the advantage of Kevin Spacey chewing scenery four years before anyone knew who the devil he was (I'll pay five bucks for that any day), but even he seems somewhat uninspired.
Richard and Priscilla Parker (Kevin Kline and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) are yuppie musicians who live in suburbia somewhere in the South (Georgia? Virginia? North Carolina? It's never really made clear). They have a dull but fairly stable marriage and a musically skilled daughter who they pack off to boarding school mainly because they're too busy with their careers to deal with her. Into their dull lives come rockin' and rollin' Eddy Otis (Kevin Spacey) and his hot wife Kay (Rebecca Miller, looking like she took a Valium).
Eddy and Kay barge into Richard and Priscilla's lives with gusto. He's a "financial adviser" with an unhealthy appetite for risk-taking; she's a doormat with a beautiful singing voice. Eventually (in part because Eddy manages to eliminate their debt via an incredibly risky and immoral insurance scam), the couples become best friends. Richard begins to find himself attracted to Kay, and Eddy proposes that he and Richard do a one-night swap, claiming (ludicrously) that in the dead of night, with their wives half-asleep, no one will be the wiser. Richard, who is also something of a doormat without nearly the personality to stand up to the bullying, aggressive Eddy, agrees to the swap.
Long story short: Richard ends up framed for Kay's murder, Eddy swipes a willing Priscilla and their kid, and Richard has to prove his innocence to the police, an insurance investigator (Forest Whitaker), and most importantly his wife.
There is not a single likable character in the entire piece. That's what blows me away. Eddy is charismatic and he's supposed to be charming (and with Kevin Spacey in the role, he comes damn close). But he comes off as loud, obnoxious, and overbearing. I know guys like Eddy. I don't let them anywhere near my fiancée because I know they're going to hit on her, and I don't make them my friends because I know that they'll stick a knife in my back the moment it suits them. I suppose the fact that I recognize the guy is a testament to Spacey's acting, which is not surprising, but if we're supposed to believe that Richard fell for his nonsense, it's help if he were a little less of a jerk. Kevin Kline dozes his way through playing Richard as a spineless schmuck dealing with a midlife crisis which unfortunately just happens to involve Uzis and bloodied baseball bats. I've never seen him look so bored. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is a shrill, henpecking banshee as Priscilla. And Rebecca Miller is essentially playing a battered wife.
Y'know, I take it back. I don't just know guys like Eddy Otis, I think I actually know Eddy Otis. And his poor wife. I just hope they don't turn on me. If my life's going to be a movie, I'd much rather it be "Star Wars" or something. -
paul-685-66457526 January 2018I certainly agree with all the critical reviews. Nevertheless, I rated the movie much higher than the average for two simple but essential reasons: it was quite entertaining and definitely not boring.
I never liked Kevin Spacey and he did his best to justify my attitude toward him. On the other hand, Kevin Kline is one of my all time favorite actors despite his mediocre performance here.
P.S. I saw the movie when it first came out but I remembered only one single scene from it when I watched it the second time on 01/25/2018. -
jtindahouse5 August 2022'Consenting Adults' is the kind of 90s film that I usually love and wish they made more of today. This one I just could not connect with however. Even Kevin Spacey, who was one of my favourite actors back in the day, just kind of annoyed me more than anything.
The set up in the film seems to take a very long time and it is not interesting at all. Extremely bland characters play a big factor in this. The film is humourless, dull and lacking any X-factor whatsoever.
Then the main event of the film happens and things do pick up a little. The characters remain dull - and make some bizarre decisions - but at least the story feels like it is moving forward.
Everything just feels a little by the book. There's nothing here that separates the film from the myriad of similar films the 90s produced. This isn't one to rush out and see. 6/10. -
newday9807427 November 2008Any number of Hollywood presentations stretch their plots to allow scenes that add thrills and give the actors a chance to "emote". CA takes this to another level, creating a universe where people do things for no particular reason except to keep the engine chugging along, pulling its strange cargo toward a requisite splashy finale. Along the way the movie becomes much like a creature that has passed through the transformation pods in "The Fly". You can kind of tell what was intended but the actual result is anything but pretty. Accompanying these oddities is the absolute stupidity required of the characters. At one point the lead, accused of one murder, discovers potential exculpatory evidence which he shares with an insurance investigator. This could save the insurance company 1.6 million dollars. The logical thing to do, of course, would be for the investigator, with the help of the police, to check this out saving the insurance company their money and eliminating the murder charge for the lead. But does the investigator follow it up? Well, that would be expecting these people to have high level thinking. High level in this case means what any reasonable person might think about. Since the characters in CA tend to have the thinking processes of turnips the lead follows up himself, resulting in yet another murder on his hands. However that does allow the requisite finale which is completed with the panache of a 5th grade play. The acting is fine, but plot holes and poor direction particularly of action sequences ruined the film.
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brianmellow24 September 2008The only implausible part of the movie was when Kevin Kline's character chose to leave the character played by Rebecca Miller alone on the rooftop to answer the "fake call" by the character played by Forest Whitaker. Had I been in a similar circumstance, I cannot imagine I would leave her alone after finally finding her.
But as far as the movie was concerned, I found it otherwise entirely plausible and believable. And even my implausible criticism mentioned in the first paragraph could very easily have happened given the emotional response that the protagonist may have experienced.
This was well crafted and well acted. Anyone that has a problem with this movie's plausibility factor is being way too critical and ridiculous. -
MBunge13 May 2010Watching Consenting Adults will teach you two essential things about sex thrillers.
1. They need to have some sex in them.
2. The hero can't be, by a country mile, the least interesting character on screen.
Richard and Priscilla Parker (Kevin Klein and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) are a married couple living in one of those suburban heavens of the early 1990s. Richard composes commercial jingles while Priscilla handles the family finances. They've got a huge house on a cul de sac and a daughter who spends most of her time away at school. Everything seems fine until Eddie and Kay Otis (Kevin Spacey and Rebecca Miller) move in next door. Eddie is a big talking hustler and Kay is a lovely but wistful wannabe lounge singer. The two couples become fast friends until Eddie gets a little too insistent on wanting to do a little wife swapping with Richard.
That ends the relationship, but the story suddenly informs us that Richard and Priscilla aren't the relatively happy couple they've appeared to be so far. We're supposed to accept that they are desperately unhappy and in need of the spark provided by their next door neighbors. That leads Richard to assent to Eddie's idea, and they slip into each other's home one night to have half-asleep sex with the other man's wife without her realizing it. The next day Kay turns up beaten to death with a baseball bat and Richard finds himself framed for the crime. He's thrown into jail, Priscilla leaves him and he's stuck with an irascible lawyer (E. G. Marshall) who thinks he's guilty. Richard gets out on bail, meets an insurance investigator (Forrest Whitaker) who's the only other person to suspect Eddie of misdeeds, and sets out to uncover Eddie's plan and get his family back.
Everything about this movie says it's supposed to be a sex thriller. The title, the DVD cover, the first 30 minutes of the film, they all make you think that. I even remember the TV ads for this movie when it was in theaters and those made you think it was a sex thriller. But aside from three naked butt shots, including a sideways look at Kevin Klein's ass, there is no sex in this movie. In fact, the only genuinely sexy aspect of Consenting Adults is the real estate porn it shows off. There are a lot of great looking homes and property put on display, but if you're looking for any arousal involving human beings you'll be out of luck.
Compounding that weirdly fundamental flaw, Richard Parker is not just the least interesting character in this film; he's one of the least interesting characters in any film I've ever seen. Anyone who's seen him in other work knows Kevin Klein is very talented, but Richard Parker is just a flat block of wood. Every other actor in the story is allowed to inject a little or a lot of personality into their roles, but for some reason the director didn't let Klein do a damn thing with his performance. What makes it worse is that after the murder occurs, Richard becomes the only character the story really focuses on. You cannot build any tension in a thriller if the hero constantly facing danger could get killed and no one in the audience would care.
If the collapse of the housing market has left you anxious for some real estate porn or you'd like to take a gander at Kevin Klein's behind, this is a movie for you. If you're looking for something to excite and thrill you, instead of bore and frustrate you, don't consent to renting Consenting Adults. -
kosmasp10 April 2021Kevin Spacey - recently he got infamous and sort of blacklisted. But before that he was known for so many really good movies. But even way before that, he was playing in movies like this. Where you can see his charm and maybe have a sort of Omen kind of thing happening to what his personal future holds out for him? Who am I to say? Maybe you can make a connection.
But that aside, the movie is not just Kevin Spacey! Actually Kevin Kline is the one who is our main hero in this one. A man who is easy to manipulate as it seems. Someone who is quite flawed and does things he probably shouldn't. But does he do something completely horrible? We are about to find out, though I reckon most watching this can predict where this is going very early on.
And while that still leaves this to be a good thriller - towards the end you have quite the development! It gets quite crazy to say the least. Almost a shame - especially because while I wouldn't call it subtle before ... this is too far out! -
Besides characters played by Moe Howard or Stan Laurel, it's hard to remember a leading man who was as amazingly stupid as Kevin Kline's Richard Parker. The thing is, neither Kevin the actor or Richard the character seem to know that Richard is stupid, and the people around him, including the film's director, don't know it either. You want to pull for Richard because of what's happening to him, but he just keeps reacting in such an inane way, and digging his hole so much deeper that it's hard to care.
As far as Kevin Spacey goes, didn't his SEVEN character present himself as less of a psycho, at least on the surface? Apparently, Priscilla isn't much smarter than her husband, and the local police don't have much more going on than either of them.
This climax tries hard to create the mood of suspense in PLAY MISTY FOR ME or FATAL ATTRACTION, but by that point, after ninety minutes of watching these annoying people create their own hellish situations, why would it matter? Of course, the villain is even more annoying than the would be heroes, so you probably won't want to root for him, either.
It's difficult to remember when any of the three leads played less charismatic characters. If this film had been made in 1945, I might have cast Lou Costello, Bela Lugosi and and a leading lady more inept and annoying than any that I can think of, off the top (Jean Stapleton wasn't working yet at that point, was she?). Better casting choices today might be George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Theresa Heinz Kerry. You can figure out who would play which character, based on everything I said. -
HotToastyRag12 May 2020I know this movie has had a lot of mixed reviews, but I really liked it. It had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, and it had just the right amount of mystery, excitement, sex, violence, and drama to make me want to rent it again. It might not be the best movie to pick to watch with your married friends, but for a group of girls or guys to watch separately, it'll make for a very interesting evening!
Kevin Kline and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are a married couple in the suburbs who like to play it safe. Their neighbors, Kevin Spacey and Rebecca Miller, are a bit more reckless. Sometimes friendships with yin and yang balance themselves out, with the reckless friend pulling the cautious one out of his comfort zone, and the shy one keeping the daring one from getting into trouble. That's what Kevin 1 thinks will happen when the foursome become friends. There's a bit more spice than he bargained for when Kevin 2 suggests they swap wives for one night.
There's also a lot more to the plot than I've just told you, but it's a lot more entertaining when you watch it rather than read it. What are you waiting for? Grab your gal pals and a cocktail shaker and get ready for a bumpy ride! -
This is a very typical 90's Hollywood thriller. Glossy and very very predictable. It has a pretty good cast but the acting is wildly variable. Kevin Kline and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are pretty unconvincing but Kevin Spacey, sporting strangely blonde hair, is usually worth watching and he does a very good job as the outwardly respectable but inwardly sinister new neighbour.
The plot is as thin and as ludicrous as you would expect and the ending is laughably over the top. However there are some interesting moments along the way courtesy of Mr Spacey.
This is a film that you watch once then forget totally about. Crushingly average and thankfully they don't make them like this anymore. -
A textbook example of the Hitchcock-styled murder mystery--though with perhaps a few chapters missing. Far-fetched yarn has mild-mannered husband and father in suburbia goaded into "swapping" wives with his googly-eyed neighbor for one night of adult fun. The trouble begins when the neighbor's wife turns up dead--or does she? Smoke-and-mirrors thriller with insulting roles for E. G. Marshall as a lawyer and Forest Whitaker as a private investigator (neither allowed to do his job properly--and both vanishing by the third act). Alan J. Pakula is credited with the gummy direction (not an enviable accomplishment). It all comes down to a showdown between Kevin Kline (the wronged wrong man) and Kevin Spacey (the stranger in the house rather than on the train). About thirty minutes in, a group of happy neighbors and friends gather on a lawn and sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas", which is so flawless and note-perfect it seems to have come straight from a television commercial. That's when the realization sinks in this is just a TV-movie blown up on the big screen. ** from ****