Sleeping with the Enemy * (1991, Julia Roberts, Patrick Bergin, Kevin Anderson) – Classic Movie Review 5888

Director Joseph Ruben’s 1991 movie Sleeping with the Enemy is a crass, unpleasant and exploitative sledgehammer thriller starring Julia Roberts as a battered wife, pretty woman Laura, who fakes her own death, runs away and finds sanctuary with kindly Ben (Kevin Anderson) only to be relentlessly menaced by her vicious psycho husband Martin (Patrick Bergin).

Someone has seen Fatal Attraction (1987) and thought they could do better. But alas they could not. The domestic violence story is nasty and uninventive, the dialogue is dodgy, the tone is uncertain, and there is not a surprise in sight.

Sleeping with the Enemy is a waste of the skills and attractions of the talented as well as seriously gorgeous Roberts, who tries to, but cannot save it. And nor can director Ruben’s slick film-making style. [Spoiler alert] Its over-heated climax falls back shamelessly and relentlessly on the old ‘villain not really dead’ cliché. To be fair, all three stars fill their bill, and give the performances expected of them.

It is notable largely for Van Morrison’s revival after the use of his magical ‘Brown-eyed Girl’.

Ronald Bass’s screenplay is based on Nancy Price’s novel. The TV version edits language and violence.

Also in the cast are Elizabeth Lawrence, Kyle Secor, Claudette Nevins, Tony Abatemarco, Marita Geraghty, Harley Venton, Nancy Fish, Sandi Shackleford, Bonnie Johnson, Graham Harrington, John Ward, Sharon J Robinson and John Lindley.

This kind of story was revisited in the similar domestic violence thriller Enough (2002) with Jennifer Lopez.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5888

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