It took me almost thirty years to see this movie. I probably should have waited another thirty.
Black Widow is about a woman who marries wealthy men, kills them, and then inherits all their money. Then some lady who works for the FBI tries to catch her. A wild premise, I know. I'll give you a few minutes to digest that outrageous plot line. But seriously: what could have been a dark character study or Hitchcockian-suspense masterpiece simply dies on screen with an underdeveloped script and plot holes too gaping to overlook.
Why does Catharine (Theresa Russell) repeatedly marry and bury wealthy older men when doing it just once would have left her enough cash to live the rest of her life in luxury? How could every law enforcement bureau miss Catharine's obvious poisoning of her victims and not even classify the deaths as homicides? Why does Alexandra (Debra Winger) become obsessed with nabbing Catharine only to launch the silliest, sloppiest investigation in law enforcement history? ("I don't really work for the newspaper- I freelance. Actually I'm trying to sell a piece to Cosmo") How does the detail-oriented Catharine not see Debra Winger's clueless federal agent a mile away? Why would she continue to marry and kill even AFTER she knows Alexandra's true identity? Are there really all-girl scuba classes in which women get to play lesbian by performing CPR on one another?
And a word here on the homosexual overtones in the movie: they're poorly-constructed and entirely half-ass. We know absolutely nothing about Alexandra as a person except that she refuses to date. Debra Winger is no help by playing Alex as a comatose shell: she doesn't seem attracted to men OR women. If a movie is going to imply lesbianism there has to be more than two throwaway lines and a make-believe kiss. I feel sorry for the reviewers who have patted themselves on the back for catching the "deep subtext" of the gay implications: there isn't more here than meets the eyes, my friends. There's less.
This brings us to the ending, which is so absurd as to be laughable: Alexandra is arrested and charged with the murder of Catharine's husband while Catharine struts like a peacock in front of attorneys and law enforcement officers, even going so far as to visit Alexandra in prison! Because, you know, doesn't everybody drop by the local jailhouse to say hey to their spouse's killer? The answer is no.
"Black Widow' is a sloppy potboiler-wannabe, a suspense-mystery with neither element to be found anywhere on screen. The film's only highlight is James Hong as a scuzzy heroin-addicted PI, a character dark and dirty enough to hold your interest. Otherwise this movie is two frozen-faced women doing things that the script tells them to. Feel free to miss it.
GRADE: C-
Black Widow is about a woman who marries wealthy men, kills them, and then inherits all their money. Then some lady who works for the FBI tries to catch her. A wild premise, I know. I'll give you a few minutes to digest that outrageous plot line. But seriously: what could have been a dark character study or Hitchcockian-suspense masterpiece simply dies on screen with an underdeveloped script and plot holes too gaping to overlook.
Why does Catharine (Theresa Russell) repeatedly marry and bury wealthy older men when doing it just once would have left her enough cash to live the rest of her life in luxury? How could every law enforcement bureau miss Catharine's obvious poisoning of her victims and not even classify the deaths as homicides? Why does Alexandra (Debra Winger) become obsessed with nabbing Catharine only to launch the silliest, sloppiest investigation in law enforcement history? ("I don't really work for the newspaper- I freelance. Actually I'm trying to sell a piece to Cosmo") How does the detail-oriented Catharine not see Debra Winger's clueless federal agent a mile away? Why would she continue to marry and kill even AFTER she knows Alexandra's true identity? Are there really all-girl scuba classes in which women get to play lesbian by performing CPR on one another?
And a word here on the homosexual overtones in the movie: they're poorly-constructed and entirely half-ass. We know absolutely nothing about Alexandra as a person except that she refuses to date. Debra Winger is no help by playing Alex as a comatose shell: she doesn't seem attracted to men OR women. If a movie is going to imply lesbianism there has to be more than two throwaway lines and a make-believe kiss. I feel sorry for the reviewers who have patted themselves on the back for catching the "deep subtext" of the gay implications: there isn't more here than meets the eyes, my friends. There's less.
This brings us to the ending, which is so absurd as to be laughable: Alexandra is arrested and charged with the murder of Catharine's husband while Catharine struts like a peacock in front of attorneys and law enforcement officers, even going so far as to visit Alexandra in prison! Because, you know, doesn't everybody drop by the local jailhouse to say hey to their spouse's killer? The answer is no.
"Black Widow' is a sloppy potboiler-wannabe, a suspense-mystery with neither element to be found anywhere on screen. The film's only highlight is James Hong as a scuzzy heroin-addicted PI, a character dark and dirty enough to hold your interest. Otherwise this movie is two frozen-faced women doing things that the script tells them to. Feel free to miss it.
GRADE: C-