Fatal Attraction

1987 horror movie

Rating: 12/20

Plot: A married lawyer cheats on his wife and regrets it when she reveals herself to be an obsessed psychopath.

White people. Pfft.

Michael Douglas is fatally attracted to Glenn Close? Glenn Close is fatally attracted to Michael Douglas? I'm not sure who is fatally attracted to whom, but one problem I have with this movie is that I didn't like either character. Michael Douglas is a dick, and the movie's efforts to turn him into a character the audience can root for somewhat by showing a scene where he wants to engage in sexual intercourse with his wife but can't because his daughter--who I thought was a son at that point, I have to admit--didn't effectively help me like the guy any better. One, his character had an issue with his shirt buttons. I can image this exchange:

Michael Douglas: [walks onto the set with his shirt unbuttoned to a few inches below his sternum]
Director Adrian Lyne: Ok, Michael. We've got an issue with your shirt. Wardrobe!
Wardrobe: [starts to explain something but is cut off by Michael Douglas]
Michael Douglas: No, this is how my character wears his shirt.
Lyne: I don't see that for your character. Let's have wardrobe. . .
Michael Douglas: This is how I'm wearing my fucking shirt! Stay away from my buttons! Get in here, Glenn Close. And. . .action!

Michael Douglas's character, even during a scene where he's finally telling his wife the truth about his infidelity, still lies, saying that it was only one night when those two spent a couple nights together. I remember because I was feeling sorry for that dog, an animal that was getting so much screen time that I figured he or she (I had the same problem with the dog that I did with the kid) would get a chance to paw his way into heroism at some climactic moment, but she or he doesn't, instead just noticing some water dripping from a ceiling and then not doing anything about it. It's the kind of movie dog behavior that would have embarrassed Lassie. I'll tell you that.

Glenn Close is made more and more unlikable as the movie goes. Unless I missed it because I was a little bored, I'm not even sure there was foreshadowing at all. It was just Glenn Close being sultry and giving Michael Douglas a blowjob in an elevator and then all of a sudden cutting herself and acting like a psychopath. They really piled on the crazy after that, really to the point where it was all a little too unrealistic.

Lyne: Ok, in this scene, Anne Archer, you notice the stove is on. You investigate slowly and find your daughter's bunny in there. Of course, you're shocked.
Michael Douglas: Hey, guys. I'm going to wear my shirt unbuttoned to my navel in this scene.
Bunny: Can I get a stunt double for this?

That rabbit sequence was nuts, but a later scene juxtaposing a fun time at an amusement park and some frantic driving by Anne Archer's character was even nuttier.

This movie reminds me of the 80s, and I don't want to be reminded of the 80s. Or see that much of Michael Douglas's chest.