Brief Story Line
Vic Van Allen (Ben Affleck - The Last Duel, Batman Vs Superman etc) and his wife Melinda (Ana de Armas - No Time to Die, Knives Out etc) were a couple with one young daughter named Trixie (Grace Jenkins). They had a very cold relationship where Melinda seemed to be fooling around with lots of guys while Vic himself seemed to be OK at first.
However, it would seem apparent that Vic was not happy with Melinda's behavior and threatened one of her very close friend. Unfortunately it did not affect her as she still went on to see other guys. But when an incident unexpectedly happen, their relationship became more constrained and it was also dangerous for people around them.
So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this erotic psychological thriller.
End of Brief Story Line
I got to admit that the brief synopsis on Prime Video was very vague and did not give too much information. However, when I read a bit more about this movie on the internet, there were more details which made me intrigued. As I watched this film, I really felt that the relationship between Vic and Melinda was very toxic and disturbing to see. It was pretty confusing when you look at their behavior and why they kept their marriage, which could be explained by that "additional" info only available on the internet but was never clearly mentioned in the movie.
Anyway, I was unclear of what the movie's intention at first as it did not seem to progress a lot & felt a bit repetitive with the parties. Not until we got to the incident that things started to be more thrilling, although I still thought that things could be even better. It did have a surprising turn of event in the climax which made the ending felt pretty unique. Oh during the closing credit, I noticed this movie was based on the novel of the same title written by Patricia Highsmith (author of several books that have been adapted to movies such as Strangers on a Train, The Two Faces of January, The Talented Mr. Ripley and some others). Based on the plot that you could read on the internet, the movie's adaptation has few alterations including the ending.
Usually for movies of such genre, the main attraction would be the main cast. Ana de Armas seemed suitable as the wife with wild persona, but Ben Affleck seemed to be acting too hard as a cool brooding husband. Their chemistry was not really interesting to see, and oddly enough, it was Vic's relationship with their daughter Trixie which was more refreshing. In addition to those three, there were some support characters such as the Van Allen's family friends Grant (Lil Rey Howery - Vacation Friends etc), Jonas (Dash Mihok - Ray Donovan TV series etc), the writer Don Wilson (Tracy Letts - Ford v Ferrari etc) & his wife Kelly (Kristen Connolly - Zoo TV series etc), and Melinda's friends Charlie (Jacob Elordi - The Kissing Booth movies etc), Tony (Finn Witrock - American Horror Story TV series etc) and few others.
This movie was classified for 18+ for obvious reasons, although the nudity & love making scenes were very scarce compared to other similar films. It was directed by Adrian Lyne whose prior works were movies like 9 1/2 Weeks, Fatal Attraction, Indecent Proposal, Jakob's Ladder, Lolita and several others. Unfaithful was his last work in 2002 before he returned to direct this movie. Seeing the movies that he directed in the past, it seemed that he liked to direct erotic thriller or thought provoking movie. And since I have seen those movies I mentioned above, I could say that this one was not one of his best works. Critics did not seem to enjoy it either with mixed to negative review from them.
Overall, this was definitely not the best erotic psychological thriller which was kind of disappointing especially when you see the portfolio of the director. It was not interesting enough and had too little thrill. Luckily the final third was quite intense so it was not entirely disappointing. So if you are looking for a good quality movie of such genre, you might want to search for Andrew Lyne's previous movies. But if you are interested in looking at his latest work after 20 years, or you just want to see Ana de Armas in such role, then you are welcome to give it a try. It's available on Prime Video internationally and on Hulu in the US.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars
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