Between Your Legs

Rating:
Summary: Bardem, Abril and Lopez are three good reasons to watch
Review: 'Entre Las Piernas' is being touted as a new release here in The States thanks to its recent re-release on DVD. This was, however, originally a 1998 release in Spain. The best thing 'Piernas' has going for it are its three stars: Javier Bardem, Victoria Abril, and my personal favorite, Sergi Lopez. Each of these three alone is worth the price of admission. That the three of them appear together make it a veritable bonanza for the intelligent film watcher. I suspect that the rising profiles of Lopez and Bardem had more than a little to do with the re-release.

The plot is suspenseful and contains more than a few nice twists and some Almodovar-like character intersections (are these required features in any movie made in Spain, or what?). Do yourself a favor though and shy away from glancing at the IMDB.com page concerning the movie, where a cursory glance at the Cast Overview essentially gives away the capper twist.

Plus, being a dog lover, you gotta love any movie that features a Westie. Good boy, Domingo!

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat effective suspense, but sexist and gimmicky
Review: While there is some excellent acting on display here, and the plot twists are somewhat effective, this film is blatantly homophobic. The message here is, if you're gay, it's OK to be murdered and nobody will care about your killer. It's possible that any murder could go unsolved or unrecognized, but when a detective has his doubts about a murder and then these doubts are just vaguely ignored by his superiors, without any follow up, the message is pretty clear.

No question that the three leads do a good job; they are fine, as are the supporting actors. But another problem with the film is the "let's wait until almost the end of the film before we throw in the, Oh, yeah, NOW I remember what happened" gimmick. And why does the guy who remembers, all of a sudden, immerse himself in bath water anyway? And how does that help him remember what REALLY happened?

Too gimmicky, if you ask me.

Plot summary: two people categorize themselves as sex addicts. One is a screenwriter, and the other is a telephone counselor for people with health (mostly sexual) problems. The screenwriter is a separated guy; the counselor is a married woman. They go for each other big time. The screenwriter has previously encountered a mysterious woman at an airport who has a titilating conversation with him by cell phone about his fantasies. The counselor picks up guys in the park when she walks her dog and does ecstatic things with those guys.

Meanwhile, a colleague of the counselor's husband (a cop), another cop, is having marital problems, and the screenwriter's friend is mixed up in some shady business dealings. Then a body is discovered in the trunk of a car. While the complexities of the plotting are not themselves a problem, as mentioned before, it's really the resolution of these various threads that is unsatisfying. The less than satisfying part(s) come close to the end, though. Getting there is actually enjoyable.

Too bad about the gimmicky stuff and the homophobic slant. With some more thought and care put into the screenplay, this could have been a real humdinger. As it is, it just kind of...hums along.