'Sliver' takes a mish-mash of different ingredients and combines them in pursuit of being a highly charged piece of entertainment from the Hollywood movie making machine. One part romance. Two parts torrid sexuality. One part murder mystery whodunit. One part soapbox commentary on surveillance & technology. It shouldn't work. It should collapse under all it's weight, but it doesn't. It's a fun trip.
Carly Norris (Sharon Stone) a newly divorced book editor lands an upscale apartment in a trendy building in NYC after it's previous female tenant is murdered. She may not being looking for another relationship so soon, but certainly misses physical intimacy. She doesn't have to look any further than eager building residents Jack Landsford (Tom Berenger) an accomplished published writer and the mysterious Zeke Hawkins (William Baldwin) to accomplish that. Of course tenants are dropping like flies in this building and if she wants to stay alive, she better get to the bottom of things and pick the right guy, eh.
Written by Joe Eszterhas (Jagged Edge, Basic Instinct) and directed by Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger), I had a pretty fun time watching 'Sliver' in spite of myself and the material on hand. Stone can do this role in her sleep. Smart, disarming sexuality. Baldwin is weirdly charming while Tom Berenger is always a treat to watch unravel. You can also catch Martin Landau as Stone's boss and CCH Pounder as a police detective.
'Sliver' features laughs (intentional or not), sex acts and an abrupt ending that doesn't leave any ambiguity. Spelling everything out for you in a satisfying manner leaving it being an effective one time watch. There isn't much of depth to really take away - other than most of the characters featured are damaged - but I had a good voyeuristic time watching the sometimes smart, sometimes trashy material play itself out.
