david1806

I had already seen the Danish version, and I wasn't very impressed with that. The 'nice' couple were just dumb beyond belief. But that wasn't the problem with this version, they took that out of the movie, so that is one positive about it. I mainly went to see it because of James McAvoy, always an awesome actor - and he does 'nice-creepy' so well. And he is perfectly fine in this. The problem is the last act, things just get silly, and I mean really silly. When you and your mate are having to stifle laughter so as not to disturb the rest of the audience, you know things are bad. And even worse, when you are watching a film and you look at your watch - unforgivable! I just wanted it to end.

So this is one of those films that I return to every few years or so, I really do think it's that good. Sure, it has its flaws, but don't most films? Apart from the lack of mobile phones, this could have been shot and made today. The quality of the cinematography and direction is absolutely top-notch, as are all of the performances across the board. As has been mentioned numerous times here, praise has to go in particular to Glenn Close playing the psychotic Alex. The way the film manages to get that balance to really make you question who is at fault here? Obviously in the latter stages of the film when Alex goes full on psychopath, that's an easy question to answer, but in the earlier stages of the film you really do feel some sympathy for her. But at the same time, you can see it from Dan's view - he told her he was married from the beginning, he made no pretence to want to have a relationship with Alex, but at the same time he is doing the dirty on his beautiful wife whom he clearly loves.

This is a film that I highly recommend... I think it's aged really well, and I believe it would stand up well if it was made today.

And if any of you younger viewers ever wondered where the phrase 'bunny boiler' came from... here's your answer!

This is one of those movies that surprises you with how good it is. On paper, it all looks a bit meh, but thanks to great performances, especially from GB, solid direction and a tight script - it all comes together very nicely.

It is the sort of movie to grab your popcorn, maybe a beer or two, turn off your brain for a couple of hours, and just go along for the ride. It's good to see GB back to what he does best. He kind of derailed his career with those awful, awful rom-coms just when he should've hit a career high. Hope he sacked his agent, because they were bad choices. Anyway, I'm waffling now to make 600 characters...ah, done it. Go enjoy the movie folks!