This is a flawed film, not flawed creatively, but in its sidestepping of consumerism. We, collectively, have been taught to expect certain things from movies and those things are attributes that make box office. That isn't necessarily stuff that makes good stories. This movie deviates, I think, from formula in one pivotal and disturbing scene. It doesn't give us what we've come to expect, it gives us something else, much as the movie "The Pledge" did, which also trashed its chances at the box office. But if you don't demand the "norm" in your films, this is a complicated and delightfully twisting tale of indulgence and getting accidentally swept up in things we had no intention of messing with. Personally, I found what has been called weak performances as low keyed and powerful and I had fun letting Bill Pullman do something ... well, sinister. It isn't a great film, it's for buffs who like something oddball to carry in their knapsack of cinematic experiences. It ain't for everyone, but for those it's for, it's a treat. On its most basic level, it's about a powerful man who, in aggresive drunkeness, rapes a nearly willing secretary and wants her to forget about it because of his career. On the other level, it's about what goes around doing its thing. Newton's Law. And you know laws, we will abide by them.
