Film Review: Fatal Instinct

"Fatal Instinct"
** 1\2 (out of ****)

"Fatal Instinct" (1993) will drive you wild with passion and revenge. Laughs on the other hand....

The movie is a spoof of film noir and erotic thrillers, in the style of "Airplane!" (1980), the standard bearer of this particular sub-genre of comedy. Only there is something slightly off  and missing. It doesn't make you laugh as much as "Airplane!" or the "Naked Gun" (1988) and doesn't have any jokes as memorable.

That is kind of difficult to believe since the movie was directed by Carl Reiner. Personally spoof comedies usually appeal to me. The more juvenile they are, the more I laugh. I know the jokes are corny, sometimes even predictable, but I can't help it, I laugh. In fact if you happen to miss the opening credits of "Fatal Instinct" you would be forgiven if you assume this is a David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker movie. The guys behind "Airplane!".

Armand Assante stars as Ned Ravine (a play on the name of William Hurt's character in "Body Heat" (1981) Ned Racine) a police detective that is also a lawyer. He eventually defends the very suspects he has arrested. It is a funny concept but not much is done with it. Ned considers himself an authority on women. He says women aren't that complicated and is it easy to tell the good ones from the bad. He is so sure of himself he tells his partner (John Witherspoon) he is willing to bet his badge on it.

Ned is a bit like the Frank Drebin character in the "Naked Gun" movies. He is clueless but occasionally stumbles into competency. He can't be much of an authority on women however as he doesn't realize his wife Lana (Kate Nelligan, most likely named after Lana Turner) is having an affair with auto mechanic Frank (Christopher McDonald). Lana (despite the name is the Barbara Stanwyck of the movie) plans to have Frank murder Ned after she reads his insurance policy and discovers there is a triple indemnity (the original name of the movie) clause. But will Frank be able to get to Ned before Max Shady (James Remar, a "Cape Fear" (1991) reference) does? Ned was Max's lawyer and lost his case. Max has now served his prison sentence and wants revenge.

Ned also seems clueless when it comes to two other women; Laura (Sherilyn Fenn) and Lola Cain (Sean Young. Cain has to be a reference to James M. Cain, the man who wrote "The Postman Always Rings Twice"). She tries to lure Ned into an affair despite his rejections, as he wants to remain faithful to his wife. Lola seems to have developed a fatal attraction (!). Laura on the other hand is Ned's secretary and the only women in the movie that truly loves Ned and has time for him, despite her constant "Sleeping with the Enemy" (1991) flashback spoofs.

To everyone's credit in the cast, all the actors play their roles straight. One of the first rules of comedy is play a character serious. If you act silly it isn't funny. Carl Reiner understands this rule and directed everyone as such. This is also clearly seen in the casting choices. Armand Assante is not a comedic actor nor is Sean Young. Unfortunately, at times, the script betrays the actors asking them to be silly for the sake of being silly and have characters behavior in strange ways. For example there is a moment when Ned, wearing his usual business suit, also sports a pair of high-heels and begins dancing. The question is why? It is not funny in concept and cringe worthy in execution. Silly for the sake of being silly.

The best jokes in the movie are the ones that stay close to their target of film noir and thrillers. I particularly like a re-occurring gag, every time Lola appears in the movie, we get a close-up of her shoes first, which always have something stuck to them (gum, papers and even a beer can). There is also a police car chase done via bumper cars which is definitely silly but original. And I like the way the movie plays around with the ways characters smoke. Noir movies always have characters smoking. In this movie, sometimes they forget to light their cigarettes. But my all-time favorite sequence is a court room one with a sports announcer (the great Bob Uecker) calling the play-by-play.

You also have to admire the look of the movie. To me, it has a glossy cartoon look. Praise should be given to the art direction, set direction, production design and costume designer. Equally admirable is the musical score by Richard Gibbs. The main theme of the movie, with its sultry saxophone, seems to be a riff on the theme to "Body Heat". It sounds like a theme to an actual erotic thriller.

But the movie eventually suffers from two fatal instincts of its own. One is the movie relies too heavily on the viewers knowledge of the movie being spoofed that it can't really be a stand alone movie. If you've never seen or heard of "Basic Instinct" (1992), "Fatal Attraction" (1987), "Body Heat", "Double Indemnity" (1944), "Cape Fear", "Chinatown" (1974), "9 1/2 Weeks" (1986) or "Sleeping with the Enemy" you won't get the joke. An aspect of the movie's humor is just knowing what is being spoofed is meant to be funny within itself. Sometimes a movie can get around this. Mel Brooks made "High Anxiety" (1977), a spoof of a collection of Hitchcock movies. Yes, the movie may work better if you know which specific movies are being referenced but there is enough original stuff for the movie to work on its own.

Which takes us to our second point. Not enough original comedy and keeping the jokes at a surface level. For example, lets make an "Airplane!" comparison. That movie is working on multiple levels. You have jokes in the background, musical cues, narration and the joke in the forefront not to mention the spoof reference itself. "Fatal Instinct" is working only on the one level. Oh, this is referring to that one scene from (name that movie). I know that movie. How funny! The screenplay by David O' Malley isn't as ambitious as it could have been.

Movies like "Fatal Instinct" are hit and miss. At a certain point in the 1990s this style of comedy had fallen out of fashion. The market place just became saturated with too many similar style comedies. By 1993 already released were "Airplane!", "Airplane II: The Sequel" (1982), the television series "Police Squad!" (1982, which sadly ran for only six episodes), "The Naked Gun" (1988), "The Naked Gun 2 1/2" (1991), "Hot Shots!" (1991) , "Hot Shots! Part Deux" (1993) and "Loaded Weapon" (1993) just to name a few. Many of the jokes seemed recycled and audiences lost interest. "Fatal Instinct" was a box-office disappointment and a critical failure. I still have faith in this genre of comedy and with the passing years, it might be time for a comeback. "Fatal Instinct" has some good jokes, especially if you enjoy the spoof genre. Still there isn't enough here to make this a lethally funny comedy.

P.S. - Check out Carl Reiner's prior attempt at a noir satire, "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" (1982) with Steve Martin. That is a lovely tribute to films of the 1940s and was even shot in black & white. Maybe something "Fatal Instinct" should have been shot in as well.

Film Review: Ovation

"Ovation"
* 1\2 (out of ****)

There was a time indie filmmaker Henry Jaglom made good movies. Those days are long gone and I fear will never return. "Ovation!" (2015), Mr. Jaglom's 20th feature length movie (he did direct a segment in the National Lampoon's comedy "Movie Madness" (1982) so "Ovation" could be his 20 1/2 movie) is another case in point.

Mr. Jaglom likes to direct movies about actors, showcasing the bond among them by presenting them as a family. A good example is "Last Summer in the Hamptons" (1996). However, the past decade plus has found Mr. Jaglom at a career low point. This has been due to his relationship with actress Tanna Frederick.

Love is strange. It can blind us from the truth. People often don't find fault in those they love. Men might place women on a pedestal. They may affectionately gaze at the woman they love and drown themselves in a woman's beauty. The woman that is the object of this affection may find it flattering. It may even by good for the relationship. But, it is bad for a movie.

Henry Jaglom found a muse in Tanna Frederick. The two have collaborated on seven movies, not counting theatrical work. By the end of their fourth movie together, Mr. Jaglom divorced his wife, Victoria Foyt, and married Ms. Frederick. In Ms. Frederick it is clear Mr. Jaglom sees a star. A screen beauty. A woman of versatile talent. As a husband, I suppose that is good Mr. Jaglom feels that way about his wife. As a director, his feelings have blinded him.

Every movie Mr. Jaglom has directed Ms. Frederick in has been a self-indulgent vanity project. Watching "Ovation" two things come to mind as the movie's objective. One, show Ms. Frederick as a beautiful, desirable woman and two, make a movie that is supposed to be about the love of theatre.

Pay attention to the way characters react to Ms. Frederick's character, Maggie Chase. Everyone is amazed by her acting and men are captivated by her. Read reviews by the movie critic hacks (friends of Mr. Jaglom, whom I won't mention by name) that lavish praise at Ms. Frederick, comparing her to the great actresses of the past; Greta Garbo and Katherine Hepburn. This serves as the true purpose of "Ovation". Shine a light on Ms. Frederick. I, for one, have had enough. How a filmmaker can sacrifice his art all because of a woman is at the very least disappointing. I used to enjoy watching Henry Jaglom movies but it is very clear those days are gone. At lease we have the memory of earlier titles like "Sitting Ducks" (1980), "Someone to Love" (1987) and "Festival in Cannes" (2002).

Ms. Frederick once again plays a character named Maggie Chase. This may be an extension of the character she played in "Hollywood Dreams" (2007, her first film with Mr. Jaglom) and "Queen of the Lot" (2011). This time Maggie is a theatre actress. In the prior movies she wanted to be a movie star. She is appearing at a small local theatre in a production of "The Rainmakers". Unless an investor is brought in, the play will be closing at the end of the weekend, putting everyone out of work.

One need not fear however, Maggie's marvelous acting ability and dizzying beauty will save the day (like Mighty Mouse) as famous actor Stewart Henry (James Denton) has seen the play and is stunned by Maggie's performance. He even wants her to star in a new television series being developed. And, even though he is engaged, he is slowly falling in love with Maggie. And even though she is involved in a relationship, she may be falling for Stewart.

The questions become will Maggie leave the theatre? Will Maggie and Stewart become a couple? Will an investor come forward and save the play?

In the middle of this Mr. Jaglom throws in a sub-plot involving another actress in an abusive relationship with a jealous lover and a stage hand that may have killed the man (Mr. Jaglom's children are cast in these roles). Plus an actress / fortune teller is backstage giving everyone a reading. Can her tarot cards really see the future?

"Ovation" is poorly written with dialogue that never sound convincing. According to the credits the script was written by Mr. Jaglom and Ron Vignone. But, like all of Mr. Jaglom's movies there is an improvised quality with actors pretending to be naturalistic. It never quite comes off, especially in the hands of some of these actors. James Denton comes out okay. I don't know how Mr. Jaglom manages to get professional actors like Mr. Denton in his movies but you can always tell the difference between a professional actor and an amateur.

In the name of fairness I must say Ms. Frederick has improved greatly as an actress. She has learned to tone it down. Her earlier performances were filled with a lot of "energy". Ms. Frederick has a bubbly personality. She lacks subtly. In "Just 45 Minutes From Broadway" (2012) and this movie she has learned to control herself and can play emotions without screaming and wild exaggerated hand gestures as she was previously prone to do. She has her missteps here, a scene between her and Stewart at a piano shows Ms. Frederick give way to her annoying and needy tendencies that overwhelm her performances.

The subplots in the movie make no sense and don't add anything to the movie. They could have easily been written out of the movie and audiences would be left with the same disappointing movie. The abusive relationship and the fortune teller don't mesh with the rest of the movie and the overall theme of Ms. Frederick's beauty.

As for "Ovation's" pretend second objective of making a movie about the theatre, the movie never fully demonstrates why the actors love the theatre. We never see the actors on stage. Nothing visually is shown to communicate the concept of the power of theatre and the relationship between the actor and the audience.

To anyone that thinks I am being too harsh on "Ovation", Henry Jaglom or Tanna Frederick, I have only this to say. I am not alone in my criticism. In fact I, along with other movie critics, are among the truth tellers. We have called out Mr. Jaglom and seen through his intentions. In his review of "Irene in Time" (2009) Roger Ebert actually calls out one of the hack movie critics I mentioned earlier by name. Elizabeth Weitzman (who sadly no longer writes for the "NY Daily News") wrote in her review of "Queen of the Lot", "if Henry Jaglom is determined to push muse Tanna Frederick on us, he really ought to give her more than the self-congratulatory vanity projects they keep churning out." She also wrote Ms. Frederick was "overplaying" her role. Scott Foundas in "Variety" described one of Ms. Frederick's performances a "cartoonishly". Robert Abele in the "Los Angeles Times" described one of Mr. Jaglom's movies as "an investment in theatrical self-indulgence with diminishing results." We all can't be wrong.

"Ovation" is a misguided, poorly conceived, amateurishly acted movie with equally bad dialogue. It is perhaps the worse Henry Jaglom movie I have seen. Mr. Jaglom needs a new muse. No one is giving this movie an ovation.

Film Review: That Old Feeling

"That Old Feeling"  *** (out of ****)

"I Saw You Last Night / And Got That Old Feeling  / When You Came In Sight / I Got That Old Feeling"
Lyrics to song "That Old Feeling" by Lew Brown and Sammy Fain

Sparks begin to fly and reignite an old flame in the romantic comedy, "That Old Feeling" (1997).

"That Old Feeling" was directed by comedy legend Carl Reiner (who was 75 years old at the time of release). The movie would turn out to be Reiner's final film as a director.

There are obvious flaws in "That Old Feeling" which makes it difficult to defend. Although the movie was given a big marketing push, it failed at the box-office perhaps thanks to the negative critical reception it received. It is clear where the movie draws its inspiration from and what the objective was. This is an old-fashion comedy with a likewise sensibility.  It recalls classic screwball comedies like "His Girl Friday" (1940), "It  Happened One Night" (1934), and musicals like "Kiss Me Kate" (1953). It all amounts to something that is largely formulaic and predictable yet has an undeniable charm thanks to the performances given by the two lead actors; Bette Midler and Dennis Farina.

Midler and Farina are a divorced couple; Lilly Leonard and Dan De Mora. She is an actress and he is a novelist. They were married for 12 years until he had an affair with Rowena (Gail O' Grady) but not before, according to Dan, Lilly started sleeping with their couple therapist, Alan (David Rasche). That was 14 years ago and the two have not spoken since. However, their daughter, Molly (Paula Marshall) is about to marry the son of a wealthy conservative family. Will Lilly and Dan be able to remain civil and not cause a scene at their daughter's wedding and spoil the day?

You have to admit the premise sounds promising but neither director Reiner or writer Leslie Dixon can fully make this material sing. Yes, we have the standard opposites attract scenario between Lilly and Dan and can anticipate their eventually rekindling but the movie doesn't live up to its predecessors and make of laugh as much or do anything fresh and original.

There are moments of nice, snappy dialogue with one-liners and zingers but not enough. The best moment comes when Lilly and Dan finally come face to face at the wedding and immediately start to insult each other's looks as well as those of their spouses, Rowena and Alan. They fight over which one was really responsible for their divorce. The movie also could have also used more physical comedy, especially if it truly wanted to be an old-fashioned comedy.

Finally, and most detrimental, is the lack of fleshed out characters. We don't know much about Lilly and Dan or Rowena and Alan or Molly and her husband Keith (James Denton). A better movie would have set these characters up better. At least Lilly and Dan, showing them as happy with their lives and establishing their contentment, if not subtly hinting at a void. "That Old Feeling" doesn't do that and throws the characters together too quickly. Once they are together, the movie doesn't help us understand what they see in each other. Where's the love? It doesn't utilize the Rowena and Alan characters enough either while trying to get laughs. Alan has some good moments as he spews out ridiculous "helpful" insights into how to deal with anger and what makes relationships work. Rowena isn't as fortunate. The movie also creates an unnecessary sub-plot complication for the Keith character.

For all of these flaws however, I liked "That Old Feeling". Carl Reiner is far too talented a director to make a complete failure. He understands comedy and knows how to keep this movie, somewhat, moving along (although for me, it goes on 15 minutes too long). And he gets two entertaining performances out of Midler and Farina. It is largely because of them the movie works to the degree it does.

Admittedly there aren't a lot of big laughs (the movie opens with a sequence Woody Allen beat it to a year earlier in "Everyone Says I Love You" (1996), and much better) but there is a lot of smile material in "That Old Feeling". Because I liked Midler and Farina, I was willing to watch the movie until the end. We even get to hear Midler sing "Somewhere Along the Way" and the rest of the movie soundtrack is filled with standards like "Where or When", "Our Love Is Here To Stay", "There Will Never Be Another You", "Anything Goes", and of course "That Old Feeling".

Among his comedy contemporaries Reiner isn't as celebrated a filmmaker as Woody Allen or Mel Brooks, the three wrote for comedian Sid Caesar in the 1950s. That is a shame. Reiner directed some very good comedies; "Oh, God!" (1977), "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" (1982), "All of Me" (1984), and "Where's Poppa?" (1970). "That Old Feeling" isn't at the standard of those movies, but, by this point in his career Reiner didn't have anything to prove and could direct a lark such as this.