Trade-Off

This was a 1995 Showtime original, not really different from any of those other 'Erotic thriller' direct to video flix you see starring the Shannon Tweeds of the world...Russell here plays a schemer, beds Adam Baldwin, plots to exchange murders-she to kill his wife, him to do her husband, the old 'Strangers on a Train' motif. Nothing esp. original here. Russell in bed is about the whole show-in her lace and garters especially, the cameral lingering for lonng space upon her body, as Adam Baldwin sets to 'work' for the night. These scenes are kinda steamy and done well. But the rest is right outta hackland time. You've seen it all before, a few random, clumsy plot twists, some shootings, fake deaths, etc.-not much is all that convincing or involving. I think that Russell is better than this, but her career seems to have taken a weird turn about the time she started doing things like Track 20, Whore and Physical Evidence in the late 80s-they either stank or tanked or both, and Hollywood wouldn't give her a fair shake afterwards. I give this **-but that's about it. An okay time filler, nothing much more.

Had a great time as a background actor. Very friendly cast and crew!

Theresa Russell stars as Jackie, a mysterious, beautiful woman who seduces Thomas Hughes ( Adam Baldwin), an unhappily married businessman. I really enjoyed this movie and think it is worth your time when you have nothing else to watch. If you enjoy thrillers this one is worth watching. It seemed more like the series detective Columbo.

The problem I had with this movie was basically very simple - I found the protagonist, played by Adam Baldwin, absolutely loathsome. Now this wouldn't necessarily be a problem... many excellent movies have been made about horrible people. Unfortunately this movie seems to have been constructed firmly on the basis that the audience would identify with this guy and sympathise with the situations he finds himself in. Since this wasn't remotely true for me, the film completed failed to work in my experience. If this guy showed up at my door, I'd slam it in his face. If he sat near me in a public place, I'd change seats to get away from him. Do you remember the movie "A Shock to the System"? Somewhat similar to this movie, in a way... but there Michael Caine succeeded in invoking empathy as the central character, and hence the movie worked. Whereas... well one of the taglines for "Shock to the System" was something about "die yuppie scum" - and that's pretty much how I felt about Adam Baldwin's character in "Trade Off". Theresa Russell is a pleasure to watch... she has a strange, rather flat kind of affect, but I've always enjoyed her work. Unfortunately every single scene she's in also has Baldwin's repulsive yuppie in, thereby effectively ruining it. An unfortunate case where the failure of one character realisation ruins the whole film... which otherwise had some promise (sort of "Strangers on a Train" redone with an erotic relationship between the strangers thrown in, and extra twists).

What a dumb movie! At every turn of the plot, you wonder how could the criminal be so dumb as to leave such a trail of damning evidence behind and how the police can be even dumber not figuring it out.

It's understandable that a made-for-TV movie should be judged by a lower standard than the real cinema. However, The trade-off breaks all standards with its unbelievable story, inept direction, and negligent actors' work.

In general, this film offers very little to the viewer. Avoid it without losing anything of a real cinematographic value.