Deseo salvaje

I don't understand why this film accumulates so scarcely votes. Come on! Nick Cage did a good job; Erika Anderson is beautiful and stimulating (she didn't need another skill, or she did??). In my opinion, the story, the plot, could be a better fortune in the hands of an European director, like Chabrol or Goddard. But "Zandalee" it is not so bad or dull to don't be advised to the spectators. 6 points.

Is soap opera for slopeheads. This movie is billed as a "thriller". That Reinhold cannot act very well, Cage makes up for by overacting. The full frontal nudity cannot save this wretch. So if you view it for the nudity - OK. That works because it is all at the beginning, so after 15 minutes turn it off, go for a walk.

Zandalee is the kind of movie that a teenage boy would watch late at night on HBO...only after locking his bedroom door. New Orleans is very pretty, and there's some decent sex scenes, but other than that there's nothing more here that hasn't been done better somewhere else. It is what it is.

Nicholas Cage is mis-cast as an irrestistable sex-god/brooding artist who comes to stay with an old friend (Judge Reinhold) and proceeds to VERY unsubtley seduce his wife, Zandalee (Twin Peaks' Erika Anderson). Despite his lank, greasy (thinning) hair, scraggy goaty, boorish manner and an unfortunate fondness for spouting pretentious philosophy, rather than find him hilarious she is inexplicably drawn to him.

The only thing that keeps the interest from flagging throughout this film are the strong sex scenes and the gratuitous nudity involving the stunning Anderson, which begins, promisingly enough, before the opening credits have even finished and is sprinkled generously throughout the film. On the downside, you also have to see Judge Reinhold's butt - not such a pretty sight - but sometimes sacrifices have to be made.

This is a great-looking film, filmed in rich colors and beautiful New Orleans locations. But dramatically it doesn't fare so well; it's mostly a monotonous series of heavy-breathing sequences, interrupted by dialogue passages that seem to exist only because a film can't be made ONLY with sex scenes. We also get lots of gratuitous nudity from the statuesque Erika Anderson, who's married to Judge Reinhold (fairly good, but not good enough to be taken absolutely seriously as a dramatic actor yet) and pursued by Nicolas Cage (in a smug performance he would probably like to forget today). Overall, not a horrible film, but not outstanding, either. (**)