To me Malice was a big disappointment. While I don't really find fault with the actors or the directing, the screenplay really stinks. I don't mind a storyline that runs in jumps, is unexpectedly shifting from one issue to another or characters who aren't what they seem to be, but it all should have a justification and some credibility. In this movie most of it just came across as a bad excuse because the writers didn't come up with a better idea. Malice has a big budget thrust and can't help being pretentious. That makes me angry, and as a viewer I feel cheated.
Some reviewers dare compare Malice with a Hitchcock picture. Every Hitchcock picture I have seen explores at least one of the main characters, their specific situation, trying to explain why these characters act and behave the way they do. Hitchcock pictures, for all their horror and shock value, are morally sound. I should like to call them honest. In Malice, some gruesome events and additional characters are just thrown in for good measure or out of embarrassment. The main characters come through as greedy, shallow and basically soulless creatures. In the context of this movie I find this somehow dishonest.
One of my three stars goes to Bill Pullman. Before, I knew him only from movies where he appeared in slick successful macho type roles. Here he plays a mild schoolteacher and shows that his range is much wider than I had previously thought. Two stars go to Anne Bancroft whose short performance up to a point atoned for the movie's lack in script integrity. I found it a pleasure just to watch her shuffle those cards.
Some reviewers dare compare Malice with a Hitchcock picture. Every Hitchcock picture I have seen explores at least one of the main characters, their specific situation, trying to explain why these characters act and behave the way they do. Hitchcock pictures, for all their horror and shock value, are morally sound. I should like to call them honest. In Malice, some gruesome events and additional characters are just thrown in for good measure or out of embarrassment. The main characters come through as greedy, shallow and basically soulless creatures. In the context of this movie I find this somehow dishonest.
One of my three stars goes to Bill Pullman. Before, I knew him only from movies where he appeared in slick successful macho type roles. Here he plays a mild schoolteacher and shows that his range is much wider than I had previously thought. Two stars go to Anne Bancroft whose short performance up to a point atoned for the movie's lack in script integrity. I found it a pleasure just to watch her shuffle those cards.