Mediocre Movie Club Movie Reviews

Fatal Attraction

4/8/2017

B-
2.61

A casual fling becomes less casual when one party refuses to break it off.

Directed by Adrian Lyne
Starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close
Initial Review by JR Peters

Watching this movie in 2016 for the first time is a bit hard because since this movie came out, at least 40 more movies have dropped with the exact same premise and even some of the exact same scenes. None of them were particularly good so I wasn’t expecting much from this movie except good acting and I believe that’s what I got.

The movie starts out showing the Gallagher family as they get ready to go to a party and that’s basically all we get of them being a family. There are a few quick 2-3 minute scenes throughout that show them together, but none of it really does anything. It doesn’t really show them as a happy family rather than a group of people that are together.

Glenn Close is the highlight of the movie. She takes a slightly boring character (Crazed woman) and makes her intriguing, but all that Glenn does for the character doesn’t fix the movie. Alex has no real backstory or reason given as to why she went so crazy. What was it about this one night stand that made her snap? Was this built-up over years of bad relationships? There’s just nothing more given to us than she had a miscarriage and her father died of a heart attack.

Overall this movie is not great. I’m sure it was good and people loved it back when it came out in the 80’s, but watching it now it’s pretty mediocre with some really good acting. I’m giving the acting an A-, but the movie at most can get a C+.

I’ll give it a C.

Also I think the alternate ending was much better: https://youtu.be/GY_NQK7rJrY

15 Comments

Dave Lustro

4/8/2017 04:40:17 pm

This is one of the worst film review I've ever seen.

John Peters

4/9/2017 12:41:17 am

Wasn't a good film so it wasn't worth a good review.

Bryan

4/8/2017 11:09:54 pm

This was shockingly good. A little too much foreshadowing, but otherwise I was hooked. Chelsea's stress level of 1000 made it that much better. B+

Dan M.

4/9/2017 05:46:21 am

How do you guys pick your movies to watch? There are so many good movies from the 80's and you end up watching the most mediocre of picks. Or if you're going to watch an Adrian Lyne movie it has to be Jacob's Ladder.

4/9/2017 08:34:07 am

A member picks any movie and as long as it's not vetoed. We watch it.

Round 4.2 has a theme - movies where the actress earned a Best Actress nomination.

4/9/2017 08:36:53 am

Here is everything we've reviewed as a group with its' corresponding GPA.

3.92 Pulp Fiction
3.85 Apocalypse Now
3.83 Amadeus
3.80 Moonlight
3.79 Oldboy
3.74 Fargo
3.72 The Overnighters
3.71 A Trip to the Moon
3.71 Dear Zachary
3.67 Room
3.67 Brooklyn
3.63 Short Term 12
3.62 The Princess Bride
3.60 Boyz N the Hood
3.59 Beasts of No Nation
3.58 Flame and Citron
3.58 Y Tu Mama Tambien
3.56 Malcolm X
3.52 A Hijacking
3.50 Rosemary's Baby
3.50 Taxi Driver
3.48 The Hunt
3.47 Side Effects
3.47 The Lego Movie
3.43 Nightcrawler
3.41 Straight Outta Compton
3.41 Inside Out
3.38 Mississippi Grind
3.38 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
3.33 World's Greatest Dad
3.33 Sicario
3.33 Up in the Air
3.30 Headhunters
3.29 Glengarry Glen Ross
3.28 Four Lions
3.28 Witness
3.27 Major League
3.25 The Wave
3.24 2001: A Space Odyssey
3.22 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
3.20 We Need to Talk About Kevin
3.19 World of Tomorrow
3.19 Bernie
3.17 Blue is the Warmest Color
3.15 In Bruges
3.15 Big Hero 6
3.14 Snowpiercer
3.13 The Skeleton Twins
3.13 The Secret of Kells
3.11 A Clockwork Orange
3.03 Ferris Bueller's Day Off
3.00 Midnight Special
3.00 E.T.
3.00 Babadook
3.00 In a World...
2.94 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2.93 Locke
2.92 Cartel Land
2.92 Blue Ruin
2.90 The Witch
2.88 Hush
2.88 Holy Motors
2.88 Warm Bodies
2.87 Chi-Raq
2.83 Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
2.83 Meet the Patels
2.81 The French Connection
2.81 The Fisher King
2.76 The Warriors
2.75 Muppet Christmas Carol
2.74 Spaceballs
2.71 Grand Piano
2.71 Frances Ha
2.60 Shakespeare in Love
2.60 The Sea Inside
2.57 Tucker and Dale vs Evil
2.53 Honeymoon
2.50 Under the Skin
2.50 The Invitation
2.50 Manhunter
2.47 School Daze
2.47 Don Jon
2.43 The Great Dictator
2.43 The Game
2.42 The One I Love
2.41 Battle Royale
2.38 Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
2.33 The Jungle Book
2.33 The Revisionaries
2.33 The Cabin in the Woods
2.30 The Paper Chase
2.30 Annie Hall
2.29 Wake In Fright
2.29 Killer Joe
2.25 The Fly
2.22 Me and You and Everyone We Know
2.20 Ragnarok
2.17 White God
2.17 Broken Flowers
2.11 Wiener-Dog
2.07 Horns
2.05 Bone Tomahawk
2.04 Mad Max
2.04 Machete Kills
2.00 Electoral Dysfunction
2.00 Drinking Buddies
1.96 Stardust
1.95 Return (Way) of the Dragon
1.89 Four Rooms
1.87 Jane Eyre
1.67 The Two Faces of January
1.67 The Big Empty
1.52 Singles
1.52 Top Secret!
1.48 A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
1.44 Pee-wee's Big Holiday
1.33 John Dies at the End
1.24 Waking Life
1.07 Heatstroke
1.00 Ridiculous 6
1.00 Sharknado
1.00 Only God Forgives
0.93 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
0.90 Explorers
0.76 Escape from Tomorrow

Cooker

5/2/2017 12:09:17 pm

I like how four of the bottom ten picks were mine. HA!

4/9/2017 09:39:37 am

We also try to review movies that are on streaming sites so that anyone can watch them with us and don't have to pay to rent them.

Lane

4/10/2017 01:54:51 am

I’m not going to fault this film at all for its perceived mediocrity. Perhaps it is mediocre. Perhaps we of the Plasma Screen Generation suffer from the fault of having to watch films in 1/40th the size they were meant to be seen while thinking we’re getting the full entertainment experience. An experience we usually have by ourselves. Alone. We are fools duped into thinking cinema can be a solitary experience. “Fatal Attraction” argues against us introverted entertainment warriors. Mea culpa.

The thing I sometimes ponder while watching a film at home (almost always by myself…on a screen 1/40th the size it was meant to be seen on) is what would it be like to see this in the way it was meant to be seen. Big screen. With a crowd. People all anticipating the same emotions and action I’m anticipating. What would this feel like as opposed to what I’m actually experiencing?

This is a great question to bring to “Fatal Attraction” because while not a great film (it’s mostly derivative) if there was a Friday midnight screening at the Belcourt (our local indie theater here in Nashville) and if I could be persuaded to stay up that late, this would be a screening I’d be tempted to see on a big screen along with an anticipatory audience. I mean, we know where the twists and turns are. We know where things get crazy, but that’s part of the fun. It’s like a roller coaster. We can totally see when the drops and spins are coming, but the fact we’re all doing it together only increases the excitement. “Fatal Attraction” is the Wooden Roller Coaster of movies. It’s not the most unique and certainly not the most high-tech entertainment, and yet the thrills remain if experienced in the right framework. I wish I could have seen this at 40 feet high.

If I’m judging “FA” on the merits and not the history, it does only get mediocre marks: Glenn Close is historically iconic but dated and easily punned these days (as evidenced by recent SNL skits); the boiling rabbit scene loses its punch after so many years and comedic tropes and wasn’t that skillfully shot in the first place. I’m a fan of the dueling elevator scenes—one is sexy, the other is actually scary. The finale is pseudo-well done, but anyone whose spent a few hours watching Hitchcock recognizes the “Psycho” influence and Lyne’s interpretation fails to add much here. Lyne’s shower scene is basically a B+ version of Brian DePalma, and DePalma is basically a B+ version of Hitchcock, so where does this leave us. I’m not sure what score that would equal…participant award, maybe?

But the overall effect of the film is something I appreciate, and Lyne is certainly more highly skilled than other ‘80’s films we’ve had to endure in the MMC. “Fatal Attraction” simply lacks the cultural linguistics of a “Bonfire of the Vanities” (the novel) or an “American Psycho” (novel and movie)--which plumbed the same social territory--to be iconoclastic. Yet, as it is, it remains iconic.

If I hadn’t been 6 years old when this film came out, I would have absolutely loved to go see this in the theaters, and it deserves a high grade simply for its cultural influence. Listen up Belcourt and all you other indie cinemas out there…this is a great midnight showing opportunity and I might even show up if I can stay up that late. Netflix be damned. Let’s see it as it’s meant to be seen.

Grade: B+

Jon

4/13/2017 12:59:24 am

A person given to putting on Watchmojo top ten youtube videos as background noise soaks some things up from the culture. The Cliff Notes version of Fatal Attraction is one of those things. I went into this knowing the ending and the "I won't be ignored" line, hoping that the film was going to be more than a fling that takes a turn. Maybe Glenn Close's Alex would be more than a diagnosable basket case, or maybe the film would pin the whole thing on Michael Douglas' Dan. Turns out that the cursory glance is a largely accurate one. This is a film that doesn't seem to have taken on any additional weight or meaning in the intervening time since its release. It is what it is, a pulpy and melodramatic woman-scorned thriller, with nothing more on its mind than tension and a showcase for Close's iconic performance. Fatal Attraction is a fine vehicle for both, but I wish there was more going on.

I think there's a few things that ensure Fatal Attraction turns into the straightforward stalker flick that it is. One is how it views Dan. Released in the same year that Michael Douglas gave his own iconic performance in Wall Street, it's interesting how the perception of those two films bleed into each other. Despite his misdeeds being the impetus for the film, he gets left out of the shrieking lady maniac image of Fatal Attraction. His Gordon Gekko antagonist is revered in financial circles as their paragon. Douglas somehow skates on playing two pretty despicable characters. Gekko's obviously the bigger asshole, but Dan shares in Gekko's selfishness. The only tip of the hat that director Adrian Lyne gives to Dan's motivations for cheating is that his wife isn't as sexually available to him as he would like her to be. Oh well, time to go sleep with an associate. He only comes clean after Alex has killed (in my best Bill the Butcher voice) that poor, poor rabbit, and despite his wife's outburst at him, it feels inadequate, like the movie is judging him for cheating on Beth (Anne Archer) with Alex, instead of cheating, period.

Another flaw that sets the film irrevocably down its path is the choice to immediately portray Alex as unstable. If she doesn't cut her wrists as their weekend together is ending, I think it's a much better movie, especially because she has a point sans all her mental issues. It was never unclear that Dan was married, so they both entered into this liaison with open eyes. To her, he's obviously unhappy at home, so all the talk about his marriage and how important it is to him is just talk. They shared a true moment together over that spaghetti dinner about Madame Butterfly, and another in the park. She's absolutely right that he doesn't just get to walk into her life, make a big impact, and then leave with no consequences. However, Lyne poisons the well with the suicide attempt, because now everything she says is coming out of the mouth of a person with serious problems. If they delayed those tics, the result is more surprising and more impactful and less dismissive of her character. Has anyone seen Audition? That's how you do it.

Lastly, I think a greater focus on Beth would've helped out a lot, like if she becomes the protagonist at a certain point. Dan is ineffectual at keeping Alex away from his family once she sets her sights towards violence, so again, I think it would be more impactful if it was Beth who was charged in the last act with cleaning up after her husband's mess and then kicking his ass out for all the hurt he's caused them. Instead, she gets the killing shot, and an unclear future with Dan, as I can't tell if they stayed together by the end credits or not.

There's the movie that I prefer and the movie that is. I wouldn't call the movie that is bad, necessarily, but it's lacking in any of the psychological warfare or moral quandaries I hoped for. It's just a story of nuts Glenn Close, refusing to be ignored and gradually learning how to be a ninja. The samurai self-help book that comes up a few times counsels a refusal to coddle, and I'm going to take that advice. Fatal Attraction is a perfectly fine thriller that I wished would've aimed higher. C

4/13/2017 01:18:58 am

I feel like this film is being judged too much on modern standards, when it is firmly a film of the '80's shock/horror genre. Boiled rabbits and cut wrists still had the power to shock in those days. One of the reasons I had never seen this film until now was because, in the 80's, I wasn't allowed to see it. There was a certain "taboo" element in this film that I think we miss today.

Sean

4/28/2017 01:30:54 am

Saw many years ago and didn't like it much then. Will always be second place to Basic Instinct in the Michael Douglas soft-core 80s movie genre. I'm comfortable with a C

5/2/2017 12:05:37 pm

Before I get into my notes, my wife gave a quick statement about Fatal Attraction. I wake up before she does, so she joined me about a half-hour/45 minutes in.

She said, “This movie didn’t age well. We’ve seen it 15 times already. Lifetime ruined this movie.”

I agree with the initial review that we’ve seen this story several times by now. I feel like I watched one not too long ago where a crazy girl held a family hostage so she could spend a year’s worth of holidays in the span of their vacation. I’m pretty sure I didn’t dream it, but I can’t recall what this stupid movie was. Maybe I need to check my streaming activity. (Checks streaming activity). It was 2012’s Love Sick Love.

This movie reminded me of two things from Family Guy. Number one being the obvious parody (which I now understand after watching this movie) in the episode “Barely Legal”, where Meg develops a crush on Brian after he stands up for her. The other is the following selection of dialogue from the episode “Breaking Out is Hard to Do”…

Brian- Is that ham? I thought you put that back.
Lois- Oh - No, I put the other ham back.
Brian- I don't remember another ham.
Lois- Well, you were too busy eyeballing that Redbook - with Glenn Close on the cover.
Brian- Hey, she is a handsome woman.

Here are some random thoughts and notes I took while watching this …

This is so 80s. They’re showing You Can’t Do That on Television. I wonder if that’s on DVD anywhere.

This child is confusing me. It’s his daughter, right? Man, she really looks like a little boy.

They’re having sex in the kitchen and there is water running on the dishes in the sink. Is this considered multitasking?

Now they’re trying to have sex in an elevator. So, they’re traveling from one place to another in the process. Is this considered being productive?

When they’re checking out the new house and go up to the attic, my MST3K comment was, “this can be the sex room.”

I miss Fred Gwynne.

The friend reminds me of Dennis Nedry from Jurassic Park; he even kind of looks like him. It’s not the same guy though. It turns out that the friend (played by Stuart Pankin) is the guy who voiced Earl Sinclair in Dinosaurs. His girl (played by Ellen Foley) looked familiar, too. She was on Night Court.

Was she just pretending to be pregnant? Didn’t we just see this in Chicago?

Um … restraining order?

I’m glad it was the wife that shot and killed her. But I think it would’ve been better had the daughter showed up with the gun and said, “This is for my rabbit,” right before blowing her away.

According to the credits, the late Jonathan Brandis appears toward the beginning as a “Party Guest.” This shows up on his IMDB page, as well. I started the movie over and looked for him. Didn’t see him anywhere. He would’ve been like 11. Don’t recall seeing any kids at the party.

I probably would’ve had a different reaction had a seen this earlier in my life, opposed to multiple copycat films prior. Wasn’t bad, but I agree with my wife that it didn’t age well. Think I’ll give this a B-

Angela

6/21/2017 08:04:37 pm

This is for my rabbit.
THAT made me laugh out loud!!! Thank you!

Blair

6/28/2017 10:46:37 pm

Stuck in the 80's, through and through. It was fine. Probably scary in its time period but almost laughable now. The wife should not have forgiven him. C+

Fatal Attraction

B-
2.61

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Fatal Attraction

B-​2.61

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B-
2.61