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Reviews
To Love, Honor and Deceive (1996)
Frustrating stew of credibility problems
Not sure what I expected, but in many ways this was a disappointment of a thriller. The protagonist's (Vanessa Marcil) attitude, her intent from the very beginning to get her son back (but not the husband), had me confused. A little back story of marital problems would have been most welcome -- especially since the actor portraying the husband (Thomas Gibson) acted rings around the official police detective love interest (James Wilder).
The whole FBI subplot thing -- including the courtroom scenes -- had no credibility at all, and Agent Lassiter (Leland Orser) was such a chore to watch that at one point I considered just turning the blame thing off. And the wife's best friend (Rosalind Chao) was never even given the dignity of a name.
Maybe some other viewers will be satisfied with the ending. I do not feel that much of a job was done knitting up plot lines. I was left thinking, "Wait, is that all there is? What about A and B and C?"
Dummy (2002)
An Unexpected Delight!
Not sure what I expected out of this movie, but I certainly didn't expect to bounce around in my chair the entire time, cackling with delight. For a fairly linear plot, there are enough twists and turns to satisfy anyone, and the performances are uniformly strong. Milla Jovovich's "Fangora" was astonishing. I was struck more than once by what the contrast between her constant motion and Brody's physical stillness said about their characters' attitude toward life. The smaller parts, although somewhat more broadly stereotypical, were so different that after one viewing a person easily remembers all the characters. And any female who has ever had a "Michael" in her life will appreciate how lovingly (and creepily) his portrayal has been accomplished. In fact, I think those are the watchwords for this flick: loving, delightful, and just the teeniest bit creepy.