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About Last Night Reviews

David Mamet's 1976 play "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" was a darkly humorous, uncompromising tour de force about battle-scarred veterans of sexual revolution. What emerges on the screen, however, is largely bland and prettified, virtually indistinguishable from any other trendy Hollywood romance of its period. Danny (Rob Lowe) is a pleasant young man who pals around with Bernie (James Belushi), his crudely macho coworker. Danny meets Debbie (Demi Moore), and it isn't long before the two are living together and facing predictable difficulties in adjusting to one another; meanwhile, misogynistic Bernie tries a few of his moves on Debbie's caustic friend, Joan (Elizabeth Perkins). Lowe and Moore are passable, if occasionally stymied by what's left of Mamet's dialogue. The second leads are far more interesting: Belushi brings a brash, hearty presence to the film, while Perkins is wonderfully acerbic. Their scenes together are the movie's best.