Killing Me Softly

I rented and watched KILLING ME SOFTLY on DVD and giggled throughout the movie. It's so unintentionally funny, and silly and stupid and pointless, that I'm sure people in the near future will look back at this as camp. The film stars Heather Graham and Joseph Fiennes. Heather's character goes though a number of things or does things that are totally divorced from logic. She marries a man she hardly knows and the rest of the film is spent on her trying to know her husband's suspicious past. (If Heather's character had tried to get to know him first before marrying him there wouldn't have been a movie). Heather's role is funny and oddly endearing at the same time. She tries so hard but the whole thing is so silly that her efforts are all for naught. In EVERY scene, Heather is seen with her big doe-like eyes, dropping her clothes at any given moment, looking totally befuddled. The scene when the reporter faxes her the strange messages at her office, which is supposed to be filled with apprehension, is very funny. As is the scene when Heather pretends to be a reporter from The Guardian. Or the scene when Joseph ties her down on the kitchen table, which is simply priceless. Heather, bound to the table, doesn't look terrified or stressed, she looks bored and annoyed. The entire scene is truly out of this world. After seeing it, I wondered "What was that all about?" If your new husband ties you up on the kitchen table and starts going crazy, well, there's a good chance that the marriage won't last long. As for Joseph Fiennes, well, he looks, hmm, weird. I think the director was intimidated by Joseph. It seems the director didn't know how to film him at all. And because of this, his character/performance is WAY over-the-top.

The story (or lack thereof) is so obvious, the moment the "villain" appears on screen I knew it. The revelation of the villain's motives made me laugh out loud. It's supposed to be shocking and twisted but it had me in hysterics. Add to this the fact that the director literally took the meaning of title and applied this to the film's script/action, and everything about this film ends up looking truly silly. Everything is treated just so softly (like when Heather is tied to the table). Imagine a S&M movie directed with the soft touch of a bunny rabbit.

Many scenes look like they were rushed (the mountain climbing scenes). In one scene, you can see Fiennes looking straight at the camera for a split second. The direction is not really good. The look of the film is sometimes interesting. Some scenes where cool but the whole ultra-hip look of the film will positively date it in a matter of years. The office where Heather works looks like a place where the Teletubies would feel at home. Everything about KILLING ME SOFTLY is hilarious. It's pure camp.

One of the worst movies I've seen in a very long time. Heather Graham can't act. If the part called for a bimbo, then maybe she fit the bill. She's almost as bad an actor as Raquel Welch was early in her career.

It goes to show what a bad script and direction can do to an actor like Joseph Fiennes who was so good in "Shakespeare in Love" and "Elizabeth". It would be hard to imagine that the good actors in this film didn't know it was a turkey when they were making it.

This film almost is in the category of so bad it's good. I did chuckle from time to time at some of the ludicrous dialog and scenes. But, if you're looking for that type of movie, a much better choice is "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls".

Could have been a whole lot better, the film is, nevertheless, not as bad as some suggest. I only got round to watching it because it came on the same Blu-ray disc as Dennis Hopper's Hot Spot - goodness knows why, I can't think of anything they have in common. The other reason was the hysterical comments from some on Amazon (and they must have been from people that chose to buy the film). Heather Graham is fine and certainly performs the sex scenes well but Natascha McElhone looks better and seems more assured an actress throughout. Co-incidently (or not!) both actresses appeared in the US TV show Californication with David Duchovny, who, now I think about it would have been a better bet than the rather flat, Joseph Fiennes in the lead. Music seems inspired by that for Basic Instinct and someone was probably hoping this might reach those heights, but no such luck. I see the story is based upon a book by Nicci French. I have not read her but find it hard to believe that the dull, uninteresting and unbelievable storyline is her fault. Something very substantial must have been taken out (lesbian affair? incestuous relationship?) because although made with great style, this really does not amount to much.

I fail to understand why all the critics are coming down on this film with such vicious fury. Granted, this is not a Hitchcockian masterpiece, but please, give the movie a break. The same critics give decent marks for movies which are really way below this one, and sometimes even to pure trash, as long as they have a good Hollywood pedigree. Well, this one may not have the proper pedigree, but I nevertheless found it to be a very decent thriller, one that kept me interested and on edge most of the time, had a plausible story, and one whose ending was not totally predictable (which is more than you can say for most thrillers nowadays).

All in all, a good evenings entertainment for adults, well worth watching.

"Killing Me Softly" tells of a couple who has sex, gets married, and then has problems because she (Graham) grows increasingly suspicious of him (Fiennes) whom she never really got to know before the marriage (duh). On the downside, the film has a thin story full of plot holes and implausibilities with ponderous music which is always off target and a perfectly awful school girl performance by Graham. On the upside, it's a good shoot with good camera work and lots of Graham skin. Overall, "Killing Me Softly" is a classy loser only for the less discerning viewer who wants a little suspense (very little) to zone to. (C)