Malicious

The only reason I decided to watch this film is that I enjoy Molly Ringwald and certain thrillers like Basic Instinct. This feels more like a cheaply made Lifetime movie that drags along and doesn't fully pull you into the story.

A medical student (Molly Ringwald), obsessed with her school's star baseball player (Patrick McGaw), pursues him and finally manages to get him to spend the weekend with her. However, when he soon returns to his girlfriend, her anger at his "betrayal" causes her to go over the edge and places both her ex-lover's and his girlfriend's lives in danger.

Ringwald looks stunning and portrays a crazy scorned woman fine, but the cheapness of it all and stupid choices made by certain characters doesn't make it very believable. I also wonder how many times Ringwald's character smoked a cigarette in the film, you could probably make a drinking game out of it. Not to mention the annoying way she smokes them. A few nice sex scenes but other than that I see no reason to have this in your collection. The guy who plays the character she is obsessing over looks like he forgot how to act half the time. He's no Micheal Douglas that's for sure.

Definitely a "Fatal Attraction" redux. Aside from that, it's really not bad. It seems to be a fad for former child stars to break type by doing a topless scene. (A trend I'd like to encourage!) Anyway, Molly Ringwald does a creditable job in the villainess role. I gave it a 6. (Would have been a 5 except for Ringwald's topless scene.)

I was startled that this film has been ripped so mercilessly apart here, because I've always found it quite engaging. Years after it was released another filmmaker liked it enough to put huge chunks of it in "Swim Fan," which doesn't hold a candle to this original. I found Molly Ringwald quite chilling and felt that Patrick McGaw, playing a true innocent, broke my heart. Indeed, I think that McGaw almost singlehandedly SAVES this movie, because at least SOME of us care about him and the mess he ends up in after having hot (but oh so foolish) sex in Ringwald's car with her. Alas, she's a master manipulator and knows precisely which buttons to press to get what she wants, and later when McGaw's character suddenly gets a spine and begins to fight back, it becomes a race to see if he and his sweet girlfriend will survive Ringwald's lethal lunacy. I jumped at the chance to replace my VHS copy of this with the DVD and have never regretted it.

Malicious is a very poor film, reminiscent of the old B-Movies, only not as good. It appears to be a straight rip-off of Fatal Attraction, but omitting any pretension of a plot. Don't get me wrong, I like Molly Ringwald, she is good in most of her films and she tries hard in this one, but isn't given a chance. There is only so much that can be done with so little plot, which isn't helped by the character of Doug Gordon being so thin. If you like Ringwald, watch this movie, otherwise look elsewhere for a good thriller.

It's FATAL ATTRACTION among the college set. Patrick McGaw is a star college baseball player being scouted by the pro teams. After a one-night stand with Molly Ringwald, she starts stalking him, which his girlfriend, Sarah Lassez, doesn't care for. Mimi Kuzyk plays McGaw's mom, John Vernon the cop who tells him that Ringwald has a restraining order against him.

Ringwald plays the maniac okay, but there's no real dazzle in her performance, possible because McGaw never really brings any sense of outrage to the role; he's just trying to get through the events until he gets that big contract. In the entire cast, only Vernon manages anything on the mark, listening to McGaw without offering anything that he's just doing his job and doesn't believe or disbelieve anything people say. Ian Corson directs efficiently, without raising any real sense of madness among the characters. It's a desultory potboiler, bringing no sense that anyone was interested in more than a paycheck.