Body Language Reviews

Most men in erotic thrillers can't keep their pants on. BODY LANGUAGE offers nothing new as a tragedy about raging hormones in which the hero's weakness lies in controlling his sexual urges. In the midst of defending guilty gangster Frank De Marco (Dayton Callie), well-paid, unprincipled mouthpiece Gavin St. Claire (Tom Berenger) gets involved in a fender-bender with an exotic dancer, Pandora Circe (Heidi Schanz). Confused by desire, Gavin foolishly believes Pandora's tall tale about being the battered love slave of low-life Del Hadley (Robert Patrick), who allegedly murdered a drug dealer in her presence and forced her into marriage. When Gavin isn't busy having sex with Pandora in a quid pro quo for representing her on a gun possession charge, he begins making reckless professional misjudgments, such as informing client De Marco that Gavin's associate, T. J. Harlow (Nancy Travis), has discovered a DA's snitch in De Marco's inner circle. Randy enough to have sex with Pandora publicly in a clothing store, Gavin gets a rude awakening when De Marco has his informant girlfriend killed, and Del tapes Gavin's phone conversation with Pandora in which he regrets his professional misconduct concerning De Marco. Pandora coaxes Gavin to kill Del when he receives blackmail threats about De Marco's girlfriend. After establishing an alibi for Pandora and overcoming cold feet, Gavin bludgeons Del to death on the outskirts of town. Looking like the perfect fall guy, Gavin soon learns that Pandora stands to inherit $5 million from Del's Illinois lottery winnings. In addition to fabricating the yarn about Del being a killer, Pandora holds onto the tape of Gavin's incriminating phone conversation and files sexual harassment charges against him stemming from the illegal firearms case. Gavin searches Pandora's house for the tape, giving her the opportunity to kill him in self-defense. Just as she'd intended from the moment she deliberately bumped her car into his, Gavin takes the rap for her calculated crime. Although Pandora gets off scot-free, T. J. waits for an opportunity to nail her in the future. In the meantime, Pandora goes back to school to find her next victim: a professor. In BODY LANGUAGE, the implausible scenes never stop. Why would new millionaire Del tape Gavin's conversations with Pandora, even if she did put him up to it? Why would Del be stupid enough to follow an assailant into the dark? Why would Pandora, after killing with impunity and nabbing a fortune, go back to school? Why pull her act on a professor? Is it just for fun? Thwarted by over-acting and underwriting, BODY LANGUAGE fails to elicit suspense thrills or erotic kicks. (Graphic violence, extreme profanity, extensive nudity, sexual situations, substance abuse.)