Overall Rating Awesome: 51.85% Worth A Look: 44.44% Average: 3.7% Pretty Bad: 0% Total Crap: 0% 1 review, 21 user ratings

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Fatal Attraction

List Price:		$9.98
Price:		$9.98
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by Greg Muskewitz

"A now-classic screen psycho."

Seminal stalker movie from the Eighties, overpraised: yes, but still worthy of a decent amount of it.

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Fatal Attraction. Seminal stalker movie from the Eighties, overpraised: yes, but still worthy of a decent amount of it. Michael Douglas is the married family man who randomly has a weekend affair with Glenn Close, who then stalks him as he dismisses her for his own family. One of the biggest jokes, though certainly unintentional, is how anyone could find Close to be such a “looker” or head-turner, but maybe the joke is on us by determining that her appeal was not on a basis of looks, but rather how well (or badly, depending on how you see it) she serves as a dingy pin-up for what Eighties fashion was all about. It never is made very comprehendible as to why Douglas so whimsically agreed to sleep with her and how lax the entire affair was, especially considering that all was fine with his marriage and parenting position at home. But Fatal Attraction commands an intriguing and suspenseful running time—the unpredictability of Close’s character coupled with irrationality easily kept me on my toes just as it did for Douglas. One big piece of criticism, as it would always be in a movie like this, is how much easier it would have been for Douglas to tell his wife and prevent any number of the events from happening. Naturally, that would have negated any majority of the movie, or at least caused Close to reach for more drastic measures. Many of her character’s retaliations work their purpose sharply, but for example, when she take the daughter to the amusement park, it has no greater purpose or point, and the same vulnerability could have been proved more simply yet more imperatively. Adrian Lyne’s altered ending is surely an audience-pleaser (though it would be equally as interesting to see the original ending in context), but it does work in the desired commercial sense and serves as a relief to the audience—a rush you might say—that is exactly as it was designed for. Close’s psycho will indelibly live on in her cinematic category of fellow nuts and screw-looses.

With Anne Archer, Ellen Hamilton Latzen, Stuart Pankin and Fred Gwyne.

Final Verdict: B.

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link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=5550&reviewer=172
originally posted: 09/29/01 08:10:52

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User Comments

12/03/07 Indrid Cold Was Glenn supposed to be hot? Who cares, she has some serious acting chops. 5 stars

7/18/07 JOHN DOE A LEGEND IS BORN (WATCH OUT FOR THE BUNNY BOILERS) 5 stars

1/27/07 action movie fan TENSE SCARY AND ORIGINAL FEAMLE OBSESSED WITH MALE--THE BEST !!!!!! 5 stars

12/10/06 R.W.Welch Polished but predictable. Strong cast. 3 stars

10/05/05 Jesse Taylor Classic thriller. Close plays amazing villain. The best of 1987. 5 stars

8/31/05 ES No one in this movie is a 'looker', adultry is wrong, the daughter looked like a little boy 4 stars

6/20/05 TheOthersFan scary, but I draw the line at psychologically torturing the little girl (bunny rabbit). ugh 4 stars

2/07/04 king of cool one of the best thrillers--riveting 5 stars

12/03/03 mary ruane it was a brillant film that have made 5 stars

11/29/03 john a thriller done right! 5 stars

10/02/03 JohnnyXXX Still great after all these years. Glenn Close and Anne Archer both deserve an Oscar. 5 stars

6/28/03 KCobain Predictable my ass. This film has teeth. 5 stars

6/14/03 Alice I love movies like this. Psycho bitch movies.I see this one at least once a year. 5 stars

4/10/03 Andrew Carden Glenn Close Is Amazing In This Otherwise Unoriginal Thriller. 4 stars

3/23/03 May Q. Horney Glenn Close deserved Oscar for this! Too bad robbed by that grungy Cher!! 5 stars

1/04/03 Jack Sommersby Until it goes awry in its final third, this is superior, first-rate entertainment. 4 stars

10/20/02 Charles Tatum Overpraised? Maybe, but more entertaining than most films today 5 stars

8/13/02 Monster W. Kung Nothing groundbreaking in any way, but an enjoyable thriller nonetheless, for fuck's sake. 4 stars

4/17/02 Priscilla Postlethwaite Superb! At long last out on DVD. Better late than never!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5 stars

3/24/02 Butterbean This movie started a whole new genre. Great stuff all around! 4 stars

1/14/02 Flick Chick come on people - this was great. 5 stars

IF YOU'VE SEEN THIS FILM, RATE IT!
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USA 11-Sep-1987 (R) UK N/A Australia N/A

Directed by Ardian Lyne Written by James Dearden Nicholas Meyer Cast Michael Douglas Glenn Close Anne Archer Stuart Pankin Fred Gwynne Ellen Foley

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