Consenting Adults Reviews

CONSENTING ADULTS shows that the urban thriller genre spawned by FATAL ATTRACTION has run out of gas. Viewers who have seen such films as THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, SINGLE WHITE FEMALE and UNLAWFUL ENTRY are unlikely to enjoy this derivative effort; it's the same paranoid mayhem--and not as much fun. Commercial jingle composer Richard Parker (Kevin Kline) and his wife Priscilla (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), bored with their work and humdrum marriage, are intrigued by their fast-living new neighbors Eddy (Kevin Spacey) and Kay Otis (Rebecca Miller, the daughter of playwright Arthur Miller). Richard becomes friends with financial advisor Eddy--a lover of money, motorcycles and sailing--and lusts after beautiful blonde Kay after hearing her amateur torch singing and catching glimpses of her naked through his study window. The neighbors become even closer when Eddy arranges a car insurance scam to get Richard out of debt. Later, Eddy suggests that he and Richard have sex with each other's spouses, trading beds in the middle of the night so their wives won't know. Richard rejects the idea, but finally buckles under Eddy's pressure. The men's plan succeeds, but the next morning Kay is found bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat, and the police arrest Richard. Repelled by the wife-swapping trick and believing Richard guilty of murder, Priscilla divorces him. Insurance investigator David Duttonville (Forest Whitaker) tells Richard that Eddy had a $1.5 million insurance policy out on Kay. He also offers the shocking news that Priscilla and his daughter are living with Eddy. Richard thinks he hears Kay's singing voice on a radio show, and finds the neighbor who was believed to be dead. Kay explains that Eddy had another woman killed in her place. When Richard leaves Kay alone, Eddy kills her. The composer rushes to Eddy's house to rescue Priscilla. Eddy has set a deadly trap for Richard, but Priscilla saves her ex-husband by killing Eddy with a baseball bat. As the movie ends, the Parkers are moving into a new house, far away from any neighbors. Everything about CONSENTING ADULTS seems halfhearted because we've seen it all before. As in the other recent thrillers, boring yuppies are terrorized by outwardly trustworthy but inwardly psychopathic people. The hero makes unbelievably stupid mistakes, leaving himself vulnerable to the villain. Then there's an obligatory duel to the death between good and evil. CONSENTING ADULTS follows the formula to the letter. Alan J. Pakula directs the film in an oddly languid manner that often dissipates what little suspense exists. Long, slow pans appear in scenes that demand quick cuts. Richard's discovery of Kay singing at a bar, for instance, should have been dispensed with more quickly. We know it's her. The unbelievable screenplay by Matthew Chapman doesn't help Pakula, either. On two occasions, Richard improbably leaves women in peril. When Priscilla is living with Eddy, Richard confronts her with a tape of Kay singing. He demands she play it for Eddy--and when she does so, Eddy is immediately on the defensive. Later, Richard leaves the rediscovered Kay alone after spending days searching for her. Naturally, she ends up slaughtered the second Richard disappears. Another major plot question is why Priscilla runs off with Eddy after Richard is arrested--it all happens offscreen. The movie cries out for at least a brief scene depicting Priscilla's sexual and/or emotional attraction to Eddy. Kevin Spacey (WORKING GIRL, GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS) makes the most of the showy part of Eddy, giving him the smooth, charming exterior of an Alfred Hitchcock villain. Spacey's funniest moment is when he sings Irving Berlin's "Cheek to Cheek" to Richard after their bed switching scheme has worked ("Heaven ... I'm in Heaven"). Unfortunately, Spacey vanishes from the screen for long periods as the story follows wimpy Richard's attempts to investigate Eddy while out on bail. Kevin Kline (THE BIG CHILL, A FISH CALLED WANDA) tries hard but his character remains that of a one-dimensional victim. As for the actresses, Mastrantonio and Miller have little to do or say. One good aspect of CONSENTING ADULTS is that it may finally put an end to this string of thrillers. Now that filmmakers have dealt with the killer mistress, nanny, cop, roommate, and neighbor, there may be only one subject left--the killer maid? (Violence, adult situations.)