Listen

I rented this movie knowing it could have been real bad or real good ... and I tend to lean towards the "real good" side right now ... so it's thumbs up.. but no waaaaay up !! ....

It's not the greatest erotic thriller in the world of course but what you have here is a twisted tale of murder, sex, jealousy ... that is rather effective ... in part !!

I liked it also how the movie keeps you guessing the whole time wondering who is the real killer ... all the main characters could have been the one... although I guessed who it REALLY was at the halfway point myself ... oops ! .. Well, I had doubts later if I had made the right "prediction" ... so this one is better than the usual sexploitation film noir of the month...

I was reminded of Basic instinct (1991 ?) and Bound (1996) (among others !) while watching this one and even though "Listen" is not at the level of those other 2 movies it is still a fairly enjoyable one ... my guess is you'll like it if you pay attention to all the little details and enjoy a few twists and turns along the way ...

Wild things (1998) also appears to have been an "influence" here ... 3.5/5 for "Listen" ... ;o)

This movie has a lot of problems. Set in San Francisco, but obviously filmed elsewhere (Vancouver, I think) it overuses way too many of the erotic thriller clichés. It wasn't very erotic, with only one scene being an exception. It casts suspicion on too many characters. There is some really poor acting by the police characters, and the supposed big-city police department was shockingly inept. But I suppose if they had done a better job, there would a lot less to make a movie about. Brooke Langton and Sarah Buxton, the two leads, are really the only ones in the film who could act at all. They carried the corpse of this movie through all of the gaping plot holes, and in the end, one of the characters had to explain the whole thing in a voice-over. Ugh. Don't bother, although it's unlikely anyone will see it these days. I had taped it from cable many years ago, and just watched it. Probably not available commercially any more.

Why should I feel a little guilty for liking 'Listen' so much? Because it has telephone voyeurism, lots of sex and an obsessive lesbian? Those things work to its advantage. This movie has all the stuff that a fan of the late-night cable channel thrillers goes for, including a complicated plot and a finger pointed at everybody.

Brooke Langton and Sarah G. Buxton are likable (and watchable) in this movie, at least in my book. Veteran Andy Romano adds some seasoning as one of the police detectives (there's always police detectives in these flicks, right?) and some of the younger actors like Gordon Currie, Joel Wyner and Evan Taylor do good jobs also.

DVD synopsis:

Sara is a successful San Francisco advertising executive enjoying her independence and life in the big city. Her new boyfriend Jake, convinces her to move in to th same apartment building. When activating her mobile phone in her new apart, she discovers that she has a one way connection in to peoples private calls. Soon she becomes addicted to th allure of listening to other peoples most intimate conversations. Sharing her secret with her best friend Krista, the two women continue to surf the airwaves. Both frightened and excited about what they listen to, Sarah and Krista are drawn unwittingly into a sinister and deadly turn of events.

One of the things I like most about this film in particular is that it has a very clever way of showing to the audience that not all those you trust and love are who they say they are. And that some secrets should remain secret. I first saw this film on television one night when I was younger and being a lover of suspense thrillers such as this, I really liked it but did not quite understand it the first time. Now that I have in my film collection, i watch it often and love it to this day. This is a good film, despite that some may say that the acting is poor or the storyline is not good enough, i recommend that you watch it for yourself.

"Listen" is pretty good, especially since I like actress Sarah Buxton.

The movie is exciting, and rather complicated; it's all cleared up in the end, though.