Malice *** (1993, Bill Pullman, Nicole Kidman, Alec Baldwin) – Classic Movie Review 1509

Director Harold Becker’s 1993 thriller is a compulsively preposterous, bizarre and artificial suspense mystery movie, in which Bill Pullman and Nicole Kidman star as New England college dean Andy and his lovely younger wife Tracy, Andy’s former pupil who teaches art.

They are a happily married couple who would like to have children. But they are entangled in a web of intrigue when they run into brilliant, know-all surgeon Jed (Alec Baldwin), an old college buddy of Andy’s. Tracy is taken to hospital and operated on by Jed, and things are never the same again.

Meanwhile, their New England small town is being terrorised by a serial killer rapist who cuts off his victims’ hair. Suspicion falls on Andy after he finds the body of one of his pupils. But police detective Dana (Bebe Neuwirth) sets about to try to clear him of the killings.

Director Becker moves it all along at a fast pace and with much style, bringing on all the suspense, mood and atmosphere it needs, but the material tries its darnedest to defy him and his gallant actors – and certainly it usually defies belief. While Baldwin and Kidman sizzle, Pullman holds the centre firm and strong in the best role, starting dull then becoming feisty as he’s goaded into action. And there are helpful lively cameos from veterans George C Scott as a hospital chief and Anne Bancroft as Kidman’s alcoholic mother.

Advertised as a tale of deception, betrayal and murder, this is a flashy, entertaining farrago, dressed to kill.

The story and screenplay are by The West Wing’s Aaron Sorkin. In her fifth film, aged 21, Gwyneth Paltrow plays Paula Bell.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1509

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