BARRY SONNENFELD
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB.5.
USA, 1994. Warner Bros., Baltimore Pictures, Constant c Productions. Screenplay by Paul Attanasio, based on the novel by Michael Crichton. Cinematography by Tony Pierce-Roberts. Produced by Michael Crichton, Barry Levinson. Music by Ennio Morricone. Production Design by Neil Spisak. Costume Design by Gloria Gresham. Film Editing by Stu Linder.
Michael Douglas is once again the bitch-magnet in this foray into misogyny and what it does to the corporate man. He plays an important executive at a computer software company who is sexually harassed by his tough boss (Demi Moore). Moore gets no character depth except as a two-dimensional villain, thus erasing some possibly good dramatic conflict, plus it never really explains why she is so obsessed with him in the first place (I know it’s a movie and all, but it has to be believable that someone would risk jail for Michael Douglas). Roma Maffia does well as Moore’s lawyer, but with Paul Attanassio’s tepid script and Barry Levinson’s uninvolved direction there’s nothing here but Douglas still running from evil women (boiling his rabbit, killing him with an ice pick, the poor guy, when does it stop?) while Caroline Goodall as his good wife sits around looking pissed off and bored.
