Malice

Rating:
Summary: Not the Greatest Thriller, But Still Worth Your Time
Review: It was difficult for me to rate _Malice_ on a 5 star scale because it is one of my favorite "turn your brain off and have fun" movies. I think every collection, no matter how lofty, needs a few boredom-buster, no thinking required flicks in it. _Malice_ would make a good addition to that section of your collection as it has to mine.

Without giving away the ending, the basic premise is this: A cute couple scrapes together enough to buy an old Victorian house. The husband, Andy (Bill Pullman), is a college dean and his wife, Tracy (Nicole Kidman), works in a daycare. The bills for renovating the home pile up and, proving that timing is everything, Andy runs into an old school buddy, Jed (Alec Baldwin). Jed is a suave, successful surgeon in need of a place to stay because he is new in town. Seeing an easy money source, Andy asks Jed to rent a room. He does and Tracy seems ill at ease with Jed there. Her abdominal cramps steadily worsen and finally she must be rushed to the hospital. Lo and behold, Jed is the surgeon who must operate on her damaged ovary. He takes both ovaries out and Tracy learns she will never be able to bear children. If that's not bad enough, she was a few weeks pregnant before the operation and the fetus aborted from the trauma of the surgery. Feeling angry that Andy consented to let Jed take both of her ovaries, Tracy leaves him and sues Jed. A multi-million dollar malpractice lawsuit is settled and the movie takes some odd turns. You learn that the unlikeliest of people are conspiring together and that someone thought to be dead is actually alive and well. True, a subplot about a serial rapist / killer is thrown in and though it may not seem to fit, it does provide a little extra element of scandal. By the film's conclusion, the loose ends are, in my opinion, tied up well enough.

In terms of judging the DVD, the sound and video quality are good. The theatrical trailer is interesting and the screen formats come in both standard and widescreen options. Subtitles are available in Spanish and French. (I think these are pretty much the basic options that come on all DVDs nowadays.) Watch for brief performances by Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Bancroft, Peter Gallagher, and Bebe Neuwirth. And if nothing else, buy the film for Alec Baldwin's delectably sinful "God-complex" speech. His monologue alone is worth the cost!

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good Thriller
Review: It's not "Body Heat", but it's pretty good. Nicole Kidman and Alec Baldwin look good enough, and the story's got a twist.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good Thriller
Review: It's not "Body Heat", but it's pretty good. Nicole Kidman and Alec Baldwin look good enough, and the story's got a twist.

Rating:
Summary: Totally Underrated: A Brilliant Movie
Review: Leonard Maltin, who usually agrees with me (!), gives this movie only 2 1/2 stars. The Amazon reviewer says it doesn't make much sense and is full of McGuffins! Well, they're both way off base this time. McGuffins? Try to come up with even one good one, and you'll have something that most thrillers don't have at all. Come up with several, as does MALICE, and you have a totally brilliant thriller. Yes, the serial killer subplot was thrown in--for laughs, maybe? No matter, it served its purpose of deflection, setting up the main character, and even -- horror of horrors! -- filling time while time needs to be passing by in order for the main plot to mature. The movie was touted as being from the same director who brought us SEA OF LOVE, which to my mind is an immediate turn-off. But it shows--as William Goldman shows so clearly in his books--that the same director can be quite different depending on the screenplay. MALICE has a great screenplay, so all the director had to do was film it. Of course, I exaggerate, but wait a moment--look who he had to work with: Nicole Kidman, Alec Baldwin, and Bill Pullman. Each turned in a totally outstanding, memorable performance. Pullman had the hardest role and he pulled it off. Kidman is one of the greatest actresses of our generation. Baldwin was good as usual, and we especially have to thank the casting director for choosing him for this role, which seems to be "pure Baldwin," if you know what I mean (e.g., most Bogart movies are "pure Bogart," as if there were no one else who could possibly play that role, including George Raft as Rick in CASABLANCA). And even Peter Gallagher shows up here in an early role that makes a strong impression. George C. Scott is perfect, as always, in a cameo role. Nicole Kidman does not seem to be all that impressive through most of the movie, but she's playing a role, and playing it to the hilt, as we find out later. She gets her chance to show what she can do in the last fifteen minutes, and you can see her incredible range, her ability to focus the film, the depth of her resources as an actress, which she exceeds only in her bravura role in TO DIE FOR. All in all, MALICE is one of the finest thrillers of the 90s, and my prediction is that it will become a major cult favorite and be reissued sooner or later on DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Good Movie, Contrived ending
Review: Malice has a lot of twists and turns that will keep you wondering where the story is leading, and it is interesting enough to hold you to the end. Unfortunately, the ending is more contrived than clever. There are some good perfomances in this film that make it work. Nicole Kidman really knows how to play a heartless woman. Alec Baldwin's Jed is an egotistical and corrupt doctor who has not completely lost his humanity. One gets the feeling that deep down he feels a little sorry that Andy (played by Bill Pullman)had to get hurt in order to carry out his plan. In the end, he makes it clear that there is a line that he is not willing to cross. Anne Bancroft turns in a great cameo as the scotch drinking mother of Nicole Kidman. The only real weak link in the cast is Bebe Nuewirth as the detective, I found her unconvincing. Overall, if you like mysteries, this is worth seeing.

Rating:
Summary: Surprising Twister
Review: Malice is a twisted story about a happy couple who want to have children and a doctor with a serious case of 'God complex.' There is a very unexpected end to this movie that I truly didn't see coming until it was too late.

The acting in this movie is better than average. Alec Baldwin portrays an excellent egotistical doctor who's best line in the movie is "Let me tell you something: I am God." He says that when he's being questioned about whether or not he has a God complex. Nicole Kidman plays a very out of character role. It's her character that is the real surprise in this movie so I won't go into detail about her. Bill Pullman pieces together an adequate suffering husband. It was only later when he did "Independence Day" that he seemed to lose his ability to act.

Malice is definitely a film for those who appreciate a well crafted surprise ending. It's not like "The Crying Game"; but, the ending is almost as surprising.

Rating:
Summary: ENGROSSING MYSTERY THAT WILL KEEP YOU GUESSING
Review: Malice is a well-plotted, believably acted and skillfully directed thriller with echoes of Hitchcock in some of his more deranged moods. The all-star cast (Nicole Kidman, Bill Pullman, Alec Baldwin, with George C. Scott and Anne Bancroft in supporting roles)carries the script along fluidly, and director Harold Becker carefully manipulates every scene for maximum impact. There's no way to go into the plot itself without giving away some great surprises, but in the case of Malice, ignorance is bliss. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: ENGROSSING MYSTERY THAT WILL KEEP YOU GUESSING
Review: Malice is a well-plotted, believably acted and skillfully directed thriller with echoes of Hitchcock in some of his more deranged moods. The all-star cast (Nicole Kidman, Bill Pullman, Alec Baldwin, with George C. Scott and Anne Bancroft in supporting roles)carries the script along fluidly, and director Harold Becker carefully manipulates every scene for maximum impact. There's no way to go into the plot itself without giving away some great surprises, but in the case of Malice, ignorance is bliss. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: See It Once For The Story, And Again For The Acting
Review: MALICE is one of those movies that you simply MUST see more than once to believe. The first time through, MALICE is a great psychological thriller, with twists and turns through a plot that contains rape, murder, life-and-death trauma, and a fight to the death...all within the first 45 minutes. The second time through, though, provides a look at all the things you might have missed the first time around...and a chance to savor an outstanding performance from perhaps the most underrated actor in Hollywood, Alec Baldwin.

Bill Pullman plays Andy Safian, an associate dean at a small New England college outside of Boston that's currently under siege by a serial rapist who claims his latest victim as the film opens. Nicole Kidman plays his wife Tracy, a volunteer in the pediatrics ward of St. Agnes Hospital. They're renovating a Victorian house and need $14,000 for the plumbing. Enter Alec Baldwin as Dr. Jed Hill, a former high school classmate of Andy's, who's brand new in town and needs a place to stay. Andy needs the money, Jed needs a room, so the two hook up and soon Jed is sleeping upstairs in the Safiens' home...usually not alone, and his sexual escapades are grating on Tracy's nerves. The rapes continue, Andy is fingered as a suspect, and in the midst of it all, Tracy collapses with a ruptured ovarian cyst. Jed operates to save her life (after a night of drinking and wild partying), but renders her unable to bear children...leading to a malpractice suit from Tracy and an incredible soliloquy on surgeons with a God complex from Jed during the deposition.

But once the first half of the film is over, things really start to roll. Without revealing the rest of the plot, suffice it to say that as Andy, Tracy, and Jed all try to start their lives over again, their fates become inextricably entangled.

The movie is worth seeing once as a thriller. But the second time around, Baldwin's mesmerizing performance is what stands out. Jed is charismatic, seductive, and as charming as a cobra as he weaves his spell over the Safiens. Baldwin's ability to jump from utterly charming to incredibly chilling in the blink of an eye is on full display here; it is truly the performance of a lifetime.

See it once for the suspense, and again for the acting.

Rating:
Summary: Malcontent
Review: Malice starts out as a fairly typical thriller about a sadistic serial killer on the prowl for the next victim. As soon as the viewer settles in for a story along those lines, the movie shifts its focus goes down an unexpected path altogether. Under these conditions, the film has every right to fall apart and be a total dud. Suprisingly, good performances avert that from ever happening, and things turn out pretty well.

Easy-going college dean Andy Safian's (BIll Pullman) quiet New England world has just been terribly disrupted. Two coeds have been raped, a third has been killed, and the police are beginning to suspect him of these crimes. At home, bills are piling up, his wife Tracy (Nicole Kidman) begins developing mysterious stomach cramps and a new tenant in the building -- a sly and handsome surgeon, Dr. Jed Hill (Alec Baldwin) -- is regularly keeping time with nurses late into the night. Little does Andy know that all of these events are about to overlap, taking him to places he never thought he would ever have to go.

Director Harold Becker is no stranger to the thriller, having helmed Sea Of Love and City Hall, both with Al Pacino. Here, he uses plenty of atmosphere to heigten the tension. The script by Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men) and Scott Frank is pretty good and has a great twist. For me though, its the cast, that is the reason this works. Baldwin gives a truly inspired performance and works well off of Pullman and Kidman. The supporting cast is tops too, legendary stars Anne Bancroft and the late great George C. Scott as Jed's fellow Doctor, do fine work. Also look for Bebe Neuwirth (Cheers Frasier) as Det. Dana Harris. She's not someone to mess with, and makes the most of her role.

Sadly, the only extra on the DVD is the theatrical trailer, I would have welcomed more. Viewers can watch the film in either the widescreen or pan and scan formats.

See it for its cast. Recommended