Originally posted on 11/6/09
Sometimes a movie is so bad it's perversely amusing, and sometimes it's just plain bad. Hovering between the two is the suspense-thriller BLUE SEDUCTION (2009), a Canadian TV-movie which, unsurprisingly, looks like a Canadian TV-movie but, unsurprisingly, bears little resemblance to the better films it's modeled upon.
As Mikey Taylor, a washed-up rock star struggling to record a comeback album, Billy Zane appears to have prepared himself for the role by sleeping under his couch cushions for a month. There can't have been much preparation or thought behind his totally lackadaisical performance, which he obviously doesn't take seriously.
Much of it looks as though he's still rehearsing, unaware the cameras are rolling. There are several instances, in fact, when he stumbles so awkwardly through a scene that you find it hard to believe the director settled for that particular take. At other times, Zane seems to be preoccupied with wistful thoughts of leaping into the nearest lifeboat and abandoning ship.
Estella Warren (PLANET OF THE APES) isn't much better as Matty, a conniving singer-songwriter who weasels her way into Mikey's recording sessions and gradually begins to take over his life for her own purposes. Some of her dialogue scenes with Billy Zane resemble screen test footage. But at least she adds some energy to the lethargic proceedings along with considerable visual interest (translation: she's hot). And it's somewhat interesting to observe the utter brazenness with which her character begins to engineer Mikey's lapse back into alcoholism and drug abuse and the ruination of his marriage to Joyce (Jane Wheeler), his long-suffering wife.
The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby surround 5.1 and English subtitles. No extras except for a trailer.
BLUE SEDUCTION is a stale leftover from the FATAL ATTRACTION psycho-bitch era--even the awful songs that Estella Warren sings sound like cheesy 80s power ballads. When things, as they say, "take a deadly turn" a la PLAY MISTY FOR ME, there's a last-minute plot twist that comes as a surprise (to me, anyway) and manages to make the film even more unpleasant. Warren's character is so over-the-top nutty and Zane's is such a somnambulistic nothing that I eventually began to suspect this film to be an unintentionally unfunny attempt at being unintentionally funny.
3 comments:
I AM NOT SURE WE SAW THE SAME MOVIE, BUT JEALOUSLY SEEMS TO PLAY A HUGE PART IN THIS "TERRIBLY ORCHESTRATED" REVIEW..AS THE FILM TESTES BEAUTIFULLY FOR AUDIENCES WHO HAVE THEIR FULL FACULTIES ABOUT THEM....AND OF COURSE...WHO ACTUALLY HAVE A LIFE OF THEIR OWN RATHER THAN TRY TO DESTROY THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE LIKE ZANE AND WARREN. GET A LIFE POOR FLEA
I think the Anonymous review of praise for this movie was written by Billy Zane. He probably has time on his hands if he is putting out this type of performance. I found his character to be totally unbelievable.Even a has-been rock star would have some degree of confidence and not act like a stuttering, stumbling schoolgirl flirting with the high school football star.He actually looks pretty hot and "rock star-like" but his performance makes you wonder how he even put out one hit.
The character Matty (Estella Warren) is more believable,although she could never be said to possess perfect pitch! Most of her singing (and songs) made me wince.Which also makes you wonder why the record "producers" are so gaga over her-don't think it's her talent.
Despite all this, the movie is entertaining, largely due to the 'Fatal Attraction' plot.But if I were Billy Zane, I would have stayed indoors after this performance.His halting,tentative and backtracking rhetoric is incredibly annoying.
Horrible movie but I just couldn't stop watching it. I wonder why I did. I have to be to work in 3 hours. Oh well... Don't waste your time watching this movie. Please!
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