The Attraction is Not Mutual

Continuing to work my ways through "movies I've been told I should see," I recently watched Fatal Attraction. While I'd by no means been promised a classic along the lines of Psycho, I'd been well... told it was a movie I should see.

I wish I could now remember who exactly told me that, and start considering their recommendations less seriously.

Put simply, Fatal Attraction is too preposterous to enjoy. Could a husband have an affair? Oh, of course. Could the woman be completely wrong for him, on more than just the breaking-of-marriage-vows level? Again, of course. But in this movie, the woman is a complete lunatic. I suppose the writer wanted to tell the story that way to cement the theme of "a guy's worst nightmare," but it's simply not believable here.

This "other woman" is portrayed as so bat-shit crazy that you can't believe she'd ever appear normal long enough for any man to want to have a relationship with her in the first place. She's so unstable, you have to even wonder how she could hold the job at a publishing company she's supposed to have (the one we only see her actually performing for about 45 seconds). And even if you can get on board with all that, she says in the movie she's 36 years old. If she was this close to the edge of a breakdown this massive, it's impossible to think it wouldn't have happened to her already at some earlier point in her life.

You can't look for realism in that character, nor can you get behind the leading male. He cheats on his wife. Does it mean he deserves that insane hell that's unleashed upon him? Possibly not. But he's certainly not a likeable guy for an audience in any case.

The movie just piles on ever-escalating craziness, and at a surprisingly slow pace. I almost couldn't like it on any level.

But there was one -- Glenn Close. No, she does not make her character believable. (As you have surely surmised from my review.) But I don't think any actress could do so with the material as it came on the page. What she does do is commit herself fully to the role. She found some logic that let her play the role to the hilt, and she chews up the scenery in a very skillful way. It's a truly great performance in that she accomplishes anything at all.

I rate the movie a D. But again, the only redeeming quality is Glenn Close, and you could see her in any number of other, much better, places. (Say, the TV series Damages.) This is one recommendation I'm not passing along.