After watching 'The Cool Surface', I must say I walked away from it with mixed feelings. It is a strange film. The positive- Robert Patrick's haunting portrayal of a struggling writer turned homicidal maniac. You really did feel for his character several times during the picture. The plot, if you can weed through the constant sex scenes, is worth looking for. The negative- Teri Hatcher was replace-able as well as forgettable as the part of the struggling actress. The movie had it's cheesy moments- Teri Hatcher's confessions of "I want to act until my heart stops beating". But such things are overlook-able. I put in the movie, expecting for it to get tired. But overall, I was surprised to find that I ended up quite liking it.
17 Reviews
Watchable enough but leads to a real huh of an ending at which i can only guess the meaning of
mbs4 February 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Starts out with Robert Patrick as a struggling writer trying to crank out a novel his agent can sell--ends up becoming overly concerned with the woman living across the way from him whom he can hear getting beat up at night....but this just turns out to be the first of many mistaken impressions on Patrick's part. It turns out that this woman who's played by Teri Hatcher is an actress who like Patrick is also struggling to get her career up and running...as the two characters pursue success (and each other) they kind of become increasingly odd in their behavior.
Patrick starts the movie seemingly meek and mild mannered and Hatcher seems to be rather commandeering when they first start interacting with one another....eventually this dynamic reverses, and it does so kind of abruptly---the idea i think was that in success, Patrick's character ends up becoming more and more dominant--there's a couple of references during the course of the movie directed at Patrick's character to "uncage the animal inside" which he seems to take to heart.
Anyways in the blink of an eye--Patrick's novel after some adjusting is eventually released and successful enough that a studio wants to buy the movie rights and his agent negotiates it so that he writes the screenplay himself. Hatcher decides that she wants to be the leading actress in the screenplay based on the book (the book was inspired by her, so in essence she'd be playing herself or at least Patrick's lightly fictionalized version of her)
This is where the movie falls off the tracks as Patrick almost immediately gets incredibly angry at this idea, and well things escalate from there to the point where things stop making sense.
The ending kind of teases us with the idea that Patrick had been down this road before, there's a character who appears at the very beginning who appears again at the very end, and his reappearance made me wonder if he was real or imaginary, but it really doesn't matter because nothing that happens in those last 15-20 minutes fits with the stuff that happened in the first hour or so...except that that that reappearance of the character at the end does kind of suggest that this had all happened before (and presumably will happen again...so maybe it fits too well?)
i'm not sure i can recommend this...there's a lot of overheated dialog, and a couple of sex scenes between Patrick and Hatcher that features plenty of nudity and that's all well and good--- I was with the movie the whole way, but it kind of lost me once Patrick started getting irrational and angry and while that may have been the point (The Cool Surface maybe referring to what we show people on the outside versus what's actually happening underneath???) I'm not sure it was one that was well made by the movie.
Patrick starts the movie seemingly meek and mild mannered and Hatcher seems to be rather commandeering when they first start interacting with one another....eventually this dynamic reverses, and it does so kind of abruptly---the idea i think was that in success, Patrick's character ends up becoming more and more dominant--there's a couple of references during the course of the movie directed at Patrick's character to "uncage the animal inside" which he seems to take to heart.
Anyways in the blink of an eye--Patrick's novel after some adjusting is eventually released and successful enough that a studio wants to buy the movie rights and his agent negotiates it so that he writes the screenplay himself. Hatcher decides that she wants to be the leading actress in the screenplay based on the book (the book was inspired by her, so in essence she'd be playing herself or at least Patrick's lightly fictionalized version of her)
This is where the movie falls off the tracks as Patrick almost immediately gets incredibly angry at this idea, and well things escalate from there to the point where things stop making sense.
The ending kind of teases us with the idea that Patrick had been down this road before, there's a character who appears at the very beginning who appears again at the very end, and his reappearance made me wonder if he was real or imaginary, but it really doesn't matter because nothing that happens in those last 15-20 minutes fits with the stuff that happened in the first hour or so...except that that that reappearance of the character at the end does kind of suggest that this had all happened before (and presumably will happen again...so maybe it fits too well?)
i'm not sure i can recommend this...there's a lot of overheated dialog, and a couple of sex scenes between Patrick and Hatcher that features plenty of nudity and that's all well and good--- I was with the movie the whole way, but it kind of lost me once Patrick started getting irrational and angry and while that may have been the point (The Cool Surface maybe referring to what we show people on the outside versus what's actually happening underneath???) I'm not sure it was one that was well made by the movie.
Robert Patrick is hot
i_love_john_jay_doggett23 November 2003
Robert Patrick is very hot in this film. Nice twists of plot but who really cares when you can view for eye candy. He is as always a superb actor, but baby, he sets the screen on fire in this one with his sexuality alone!
The Cool Surface Is Pretty Cool
corvus-316 February 1999
Fantasies pose as realities in this film of double personalities double crossing themselves. When aspiring "too soft" writer meets sexy actress next door, he rises with inspiration as she plays great reach-withdraw games to keep him creative. But when the writer's screenplay gets bought, intent, motivation, and fantasy all meld into one, big potboiler. The beasts of lust, greed, and ambition surface within the characters, souring to a conclusion.
Some pretty talented people cut their teeth on juicy, B-characters and seedy situations in this film. Namely, Teri Hatcher, Robert Patrick, and the writer-director, Erik Anjou. There is even a possible subtextual argument on the dangers of secondary experience supplanting primary experience. It also goes out of its way to damn Capitalism A La Hollywood. After all, the screen writer is merely making his material saleable. It's not his fault that he can only write about what he experiences.
All in all, this is quite a respectable entry into the late-night Cable Hell of the Sleaze-B, Thriller genre.
Some pretty talented people cut their teeth on juicy, B-characters and seedy situations in this film. Namely, Teri Hatcher, Robert Patrick, and the writer-director, Erik Anjou. There is even a possible subtextual argument on the dangers of secondary experience supplanting primary experience. It also goes out of its way to damn Capitalism A La Hollywood. After all, the screen writer is merely making his material saleable. It's not his fault that he can only write about what he experiences.
All in all, this is quite a respectable entry into the late-night Cable Hell of the Sleaze-B, Thriller genre.
Paint by numbers project for the unemployed. A real time waster!
abookishboy26 August 2005
Such a pity! The Cool Surface is one of those films in which the viewer can tell early on what the filmmaker is trying to do, but it's so clunky it has a paint-by-numbers feel. On any level of honest, objective scrutiny it is uneven and uninteresting. The sum is so much less than the underwhelming parts! Hatcher plays her role as a sultry siren way over the top. Considering her considerable natural talents and attributes, the result is beyond overkill. Robert Patrick alternates between a boring, sulking wimp and an unconvincing psycho. I don't remember seeing Patrick in anything else, but I hope he's better than this. Hatcher sure is. As to Matt McCoy, this is the first role I've seen him in where he isn't downright creepy (also a natural attribute?) - maybe just because he has so little screen time. Oh yeah, there are a few sex scenes, including Hatcher cameoing her bare chest (remember Seinfeld: "Yes, they're real, and they're spectacular!"). Without Hatcher's visibility in these gratuitous sex scenes, this film probably never would have seen the light of day. As it is, The Cool Surface apparently went straight to video and has only resurfaced as Hatcher has recently risen from the ashes like the mythical phoenix. No deep messages here, just glossed-over sleaze - a barely par production to give the otherwise unemployed (and woefully under-utilized) something to do. No great resume builder for anyone involved. A real time waster!
They are spectacular but not enough to make a bad movie good
SnoopyStyle5 August 2015
Jarvis Scott (Robert Patrick) returns to home in L.A. after finish writing his novel in isolation. His girlfriend committed suicide which affected his writing. His editor Chazz Stone (Matt McCoy) hates the new book. He becomes invested in his neighbors' volatile relationship. He writes a new book with him and his neighbor Dani Payson (Teri Hatcher) as the leads. Dani reveals the abusive relationship is actually a rehearsal for a play. Jarvis starts dating Dani but she keeps pushing him to the edge.
This is a rather sad and boring erotic thriller. It has no thrills to speak of. The erotica comes from Teri Hatcher. I don't know if they're real. They are spectacular but they're not enough to make a bad movie good. The actors may be willing but nothing else is. The script is horribly boring. The production is ripped out of every bad 90s late night cable movie.
This is a rather sad and boring erotic thriller. It has no thrills to speak of. The erotica comes from Teri Hatcher. I don't know if they're real. They are spectacular but they're not enough to make a bad movie good. The actors may be willing but nothing else is. The script is horribly boring. The production is ripped out of every bad 90s late night cable movie.
More fizzle than sizzle
Squonk26 February 1999
I caught about 15 minutes of this on cable while on a trip. It intrigued me enough to rent it. What a mistake. Robert Patrick plays a writer. Early in the film, his writing is criticized because his characters can't make up their minds...well this film suffers from the same thing. The characters change so much there's no chance for the audience to start caring about what's happening.
If you thought doing Radio Shack commercials with Howie Long was the low point of Teri Hatcher's career, think again.
MBunge19 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
This almost worthless piece of tripe demonstrates what happens to good actors when they're subjected to mind-numbingly bad direction. The result is a film the performers have to walk around the rest of the careers feeling embarrassed about.
There is one decent thing in The Cool Surface. Teri Hatcher goes topless and, yes, they are both real and spectacular. Outside of celebrity boob gazing, the only other use this thing could have is as an example to beginning film students of how not to tell a story, handle actors, film a scene or write dialog. The students would get an "A" for best efforts at detailing every last way this film sucks.
The main character of this garbage is Jarvis Scott (Robert Patrick), a novelist in Los Angeles. And when the movie doesn't make a comment or an allusion about how "Los Angeles novelist" is an oxymoron like jumbo shrimp or Nazi Zionist, you know right away you're in for a bad experience. Naming the main character Jarvis and giving him the worst bangs that any man has sported since the late Roman Empire are also good signs of how crappy this film will be.
Anyway, Jarvis behaves like a bi-polar basset hound, alternating between clingy neediness and seething indifference. He becomes obsessed with the actress who lives next door, Dani Payson (Teri Hatcher), who herself behaves like a bi-polar Donald Trump with better hair and great jugs. One second she's a reasonably nice, if somewhat distant, girlfriend. The next second she's a man-hungry vamp who gets off on being dominated and is driven to succeed at any cost. Robert Patrick and Teri Hatcher spend the entire movie snapping from one emotional extreme to the other, usually for no reason and always with nothing in between. There are points where it looks like Hatcher is trying to erase her own performance from her mind while she's still giving it. There's another stretch where Patrick adopts this weird tone to his voice, like he's trying to imitate somebody you don't know.
Now, Patrick and Hatcher may not be the greatest thespians in the world, but they're proved over their careers to be perfectly capable performers with some measure of screen presence. Yet, watching them in The Cool Surface, you're amazed that they ever got another job that didn't involve sexually gratifying someone with a Garden Weasel. I mean, they couldn't have done worse if the only thing writer/director/idiot Erik Anjou did was jab them with a cattle prod in between scenes.
I could go on about the vapid plot where Jarvis writes a book based on his relationship with Dani, it gets made into a movie where Dani gets the lead role, she starts screwing the director and then Jarvis shows up wearing an African tribal mask but I think I'll spare you all that inanity. I will say, in fairness, that some of the cruddiness of the story may be from writer/director/idiot Anjou's attempt to meld what was really happening with nightmares and fantasies that were only in Jarvis' head. He may have been attempting that but if he was, it was so poorly conceived and so ineptly executed that it looks much more like Anjou just didn't know his ass from his elbow.
I never thought I'd have to tell you to stay away from a movie that features Teri Hatcher's bare breasts. Well that day has come, my friends, and it's a sad day for us all.
There is one decent thing in The Cool Surface. Teri Hatcher goes topless and, yes, they are both real and spectacular. Outside of celebrity boob gazing, the only other use this thing could have is as an example to beginning film students of how not to tell a story, handle actors, film a scene or write dialog. The students would get an "A" for best efforts at detailing every last way this film sucks.
The main character of this garbage is Jarvis Scott (Robert Patrick), a novelist in Los Angeles. And when the movie doesn't make a comment or an allusion about how "Los Angeles novelist" is an oxymoron like jumbo shrimp or Nazi Zionist, you know right away you're in for a bad experience. Naming the main character Jarvis and giving him the worst bangs that any man has sported since the late Roman Empire are also good signs of how crappy this film will be.
Anyway, Jarvis behaves like a bi-polar basset hound, alternating between clingy neediness and seething indifference. He becomes obsessed with the actress who lives next door, Dani Payson (Teri Hatcher), who herself behaves like a bi-polar Donald Trump with better hair and great jugs. One second she's a reasonably nice, if somewhat distant, girlfriend. The next second she's a man-hungry vamp who gets off on being dominated and is driven to succeed at any cost. Robert Patrick and Teri Hatcher spend the entire movie snapping from one emotional extreme to the other, usually for no reason and always with nothing in between. There are points where it looks like Hatcher is trying to erase her own performance from her mind while she's still giving it. There's another stretch where Patrick adopts this weird tone to his voice, like he's trying to imitate somebody you don't know.
Now, Patrick and Hatcher may not be the greatest thespians in the world, but they're proved over their careers to be perfectly capable performers with some measure of screen presence. Yet, watching them in The Cool Surface, you're amazed that they ever got another job that didn't involve sexually gratifying someone with a Garden Weasel. I mean, they couldn't have done worse if the only thing writer/director/idiot Erik Anjou did was jab them with a cattle prod in between scenes.
I could go on about the vapid plot where Jarvis writes a book based on his relationship with Dani, it gets made into a movie where Dani gets the lead role, she starts screwing the director and then Jarvis shows up wearing an African tribal mask but I think I'll spare you all that inanity. I will say, in fairness, that some of the cruddiness of the story may be from writer/director/idiot Anjou's attempt to meld what was really happening with nightmares and fantasies that were only in Jarvis' head. He may have been attempting that but if he was, it was so poorly conceived and so ineptly executed that it looks much more like Anjou just didn't know his ass from his elbow.
I never thought I'd have to tell you to stay away from a movie that features Teri Hatcher's bare breasts. Well that day has come, my friends, and it's a sad day for us all.
far from good
sadatshah-813505 June 2019
Half Baked
refinedsugar19 April 2023
When a writer moves back to Hollywood looking to regain himself, find new material and meets an attractive actress next door looking for her big break who's using who? Robert Patrick was just coming off his success with T2 and Teri Hatcher was about to become TV's Lois Lane. As a fan of Patrick, I finally get around to seeing 'The Cool Surface' which is mostly remembered for Hatcher's nudity.
This is a dtv trip that rides a fine line between some decent acting and suspect dialog. It's also fairly low budget and rather slow in spots. Robert sports a horrible haircut and glasses and mentally goes all over the map while Teri takes her clothes off once or twice in a story about Hollywood success, but the sex doesn't seem like it's sole purpose. Unfortunately the noir thriller elements aren't always handled well.
What do we make of the writer? Is he going crazy? A serial killer? Is the actress leading him on? Perhaps the male voice screaming over select parts of the soundtrack highlights the descent into insanity. 'The Cool Surface' wraps up feeling decidedly average. Veteran actor Matt McCoy and Cyril O'Reilly (Navy Seals) are the only supporting cast of note. Fans of the two leads might be interesting in checking this out but if that's not you I'd leave this curiosity piece alone.
This is a dtv trip that rides a fine line between some decent acting and suspect dialog. It's also fairly low budget and rather slow in spots. Robert sports a horrible haircut and glasses and mentally goes all over the map while Teri takes her clothes off once or twice in a story about Hollywood success, but the sex doesn't seem like it's sole purpose. Unfortunately the noir thriller elements aren't always handled well.
What do we make of the writer? Is he going crazy? A serial killer? Is the actress leading him on? Perhaps the male voice screaming over select parts of the soundtrack highlights the descent into insanity. 'The Cool Surface' wraps up feeling decidedly average. Veteran actor Matt McCoy and Cyril O'Reilly (Navy Seals) are the only supporting cast of note. Fans of the two leads might be interesting in checking this out but if that's not you I'd leave this curiosity piece alone.
Teri Hatcher makes this a must see!!
Billy-5828 May 1999
horrible, just like the director himself
filmenists2 December 2021
The director is my professor at film school. His ideas are very unoriginal and boring. This film having random erotic scenes is very expected of Erik Anjou. During our classes he seems to only care about erotic subjects. Gross!
HOT HOT HOT""
syvell28 July 2004
This film is absolutely HOT!! The film is so full of erotic tension, even when there's 'nothing actually happening' (!). For that, the erotic appeal, I give it 5 stars, even though the story gets a bit unsatisfactory towards the end. It feels like it was originally different and some essential scenes were cut. But I can't say much more without giving too much away. I love the very ending, though! Calls for a sequel, really, which unfortunately never happened. I would have loved to see Robert Patrick in more steamy action... So, if you want to see two very good-looking people involved in loads of hot situations and talking - this is a film to get. Might be that the story is a bit confused - but who cares??? It's certainly not boring!
***DEFINITELY*** worth much more than just 3 1/2...
lathe-of-heaven19 November 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Well, the above viewer who blasted this film also made the statement 'I haven't seen Robert Patrick in anything else...' Uh huh..., so like have you been a captive on Mars for the last 15 years or what...??? : ) GEEZ, who the hell hasn't heard of T2??!! Anyway, sorry, just had to get that outta the way...
Sure, the film has a LOT of ultra-cheeeeeezy clichéd and unnecessary sex scenes; that's a given. So, ignoring those scenes and just taking the movie as a whole as far as atmosphere, acting, suspense, etc. I felt it was quite good; YES, definitely in a low budget B-Movie kinda way, but still well done. And, YES Ms. Hatcher's role was over-the-top as another reviewer mentioned here. I think what I liked primarily was the surreal sense that the film put across quite effectively; there are some scenes where even now (after seeing the film about 3 times) I am not quite sure what is real and what isn't. ****MINOR SPOILER*** Especially the scene where she is making love to the director and Patrick appears to be in the room with them writing on a typewriter asking her enthusiastically what she's gonna do next *****END MINOR SPOILER***** Anything that pulls off a good surreal mood or plays with your mind a little like that is very entertaining to me. So, with all it's many flaws, OVERALL, I honestly feel that the film pulls off a great story with excellent suspense (without having to have people 'SAW' there own foot off, thank you very much : ) and Patrick really does a very effective job in portraying a guy RIGHT on the edge. Good little animal references too and the bit with the wolf and his reaction was a nice touch.
Also too, the interesting psychological contrast between how things played out at the director's house, with the way the film ended, was intriguing because your thinking 'Where the heck is this guy really coming from...???' In other words, without getting into an actual 'Spoiler', He appeared to be 'into' what was happening at the director's house, but then at the same time how does that translate into what he does at the end? I think it's just simply that the guy was unraveling from the start, perhaps mentally dislodged from his previous girlfriend's suicide (and then THAT makes you wonder whether her suicide triggered HIS instability OR did his instability trigger her suicide...????!!!) So you see, this movie is not just simply another lousy throw-away; there is a LOT here that really makes you think. Especially if you like films along psychological lines with a touch of the surreal...
Sure, the film has a LOT of ultra-cheeeeeezy clichéd and unnecessary sex scenes; that's a given. So, ignoring those scenes and just taking the movie as a whole as far as atmosphere, acting, suspense, etc. I felt it was quite good; YES, definitely in a low budget B-Movie kinda way, but still well done. And, YES Ms. Hatcher's role was over-the-top as another reviewer mentioned here. I think what I liked primarily was the surreal sense that the film put across quite effectively; there are some scenes where even now (after seeing the film about 3 times) I am not quite sure what is real and what isn't. ****MINOR SPOILER*** Especially the scene where she is making love to the director and Patrick appears to be in the room with them writing on a typewriter asking her enthusiastically what she's gonna do next *****END MINOR SPOILER***** Anything that pulls off a good surreal mood or plays with your mind a little like that is very entertaining to me. So, with all it's many flaws, OVERALL, I honestly feel that the film pulls off a great story with excellent suspense (without having to have people 'SAW' there own foot off, thank you very much : ) and Patrick really does a very effective job in portraying a guy RIGHT on the edge. Good little animal references too and the bit with the wolf and his reaction was a nice touch.
Also too, the interesting psychological contrast between how things played out at the director's house, with the way the film ended, was intriguing because your thinking 'Where the heck is this guy really coming from...???' In other words, without getting into an actual 'Spoiler', He appeared to be 'into' what was happening at the director's house, but then at the same time how does that translate into what he does at the end? I think it's just simply that the guy was unraveling from the start, perhaps mentally dislodged from his previous girlfriend's suicide (and then THAT makes you wonder whether her suicide triggered HIS instability OR did his instability trigger her suicide...????!!!) So you see, this movie is not just simply another lousy throw-away; there is a LOT here that really makes you think. Especially if you like films along psychological lines with a touch of the surreal...
Average thriller
charlottesweb7 January 2001
Tormented writer draws inspiration from the life of the girl-next-door for his next novel. But, as topless Teri Hatcher looks to be giving him the book his publisher has been begging for, the writer falls for her. The kind of film where anger can only be represented by a character punching a table top.
And Yes, They're Real!
nipny1 June 2022
This is a BRUTALLY bad movie. I don't know which is worse; the acting, the story or the cinematography. It's just bad from top to bottom, beginning to end. BUT, Teri Hatcher gets naked a few times and talks dirty so I gave it a 10!
Better than Expected - Teri Hatcher is Great
realistdreamer25 June 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I do not know why the overall user rating for this movie is so low (4.5). This was a rather interesting movie that shows how Hollywood used to work (luckily it has now changed). Patrick and Hatcher's characters do have some strange quirks and speak in somewhat violent symbolism sometimes and act inconsistently towards each other, but that is in line with the whole story and theme of the movie. I thought Hatcher's acting was very strong and really felt that she loved Patrick (as she said at one point). She expressed some reluctance towards the advances of the producer of the movie she has gotten a major role in (which is based on Patrick's book) but accepts that she might benefit career-wise if she gives in. Plus, Hatcher has probably never looked more radiant in any other movie - who cares if we see some of her skin or not; just seeing her beautiful face, at times very happy, is very enjoyable.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
