A soft and hesitant young man is in danger when he tries to break toxic relationships with a mysterious stranger claiming to be his friend.A soft and hesitant young man is in danger when he tries to break toxic relationships with a mysterious stranger claiming to be his friend.A soft and hesitant young man is in danger when he tries to break toxic relationships with a mysterious stranger claiming to be his friend.
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination
- Band in Club
- (as jet freedom)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- GoofsEarly in the movie when Michael is in the bar drinking a beer the glass is nearly empty. When it cuts to Michael getting his head slammed against the table the glass is suddenly almost full.
- Quotes
Michael: What happened last night?
Alex: What do you mean?
Michael: The last thing I remember is we were driving around Patterson's neighborhood. And I go into the office today and find out that he got beat up. And I'm standing there in the middle of everybody with dried blood all over my hand. Did we go to Patterson's last night?
Alex: Yes. We went to Patterson's.
Michael: I mean, I didn't hit him, did I?
Alex: You didn't just hit him. You beat the shit out of him.
Michael: What the hell were you doing?
Alex: Holding him down.
[Michael looks frantic]
Alex: Oh don't worry, I'm not gonna tell anybody.
Michael: *Tell* anybody? Jesus Christ, this guy is a colleague of mine!
Alex: Oh, don't worry about him! *He's* not gonna tell anyone. He knows you'd kill him if he did.
Michael: Wait a second... kill him?
Alex: Yeah. And if you didn't, I would. Told him that this morning... when I went to get the donuts.
Michael: Get out.
[Alex continues eating donuts]
Michael: GET OUT!
- Alternate versionsUK version is cut by 28 sec. to remove "dangerous imitable technique" during the scene where Alex attempts to kill Michael by connecting the car lights to the petrol tank.
- SoundtracksSpiritual Healing
Written by Toots Hibbert (as F. Hibbert)
Performed by Toots Hibbert (as Toots)
Produced by Chris Blackwell and Lowell 'Sly' Dunbar (as Sly Dunbar)
Courtesy of Mango Records, an Island Records company
The good: You do care about the characters, and James Spader and Rob Lowe are both fantastic actors who are on the top of their game here. It's interesting to see Spader play a guy who isn't super cool and self assured for a change, and he handles it well. Lowe channels a bit of Patrick Bateman and creates a great GQ sociopath. The supporting cast is quite good as well, however this could very well have been a two-man film, as you can fit the dialog of all the other characters in the movie combined onto maybe two sheets of paper. The director also had a great eye for style, as the locations, clothing and music were gorgeous and perfectly suited to the era, and gave the film a great deal of authenticity.
The bad: I'm not entirely convinced why Spader was so quick to discard his fiancé (who was beautiful, rich and from all indications a very nice person that cared for him a great deal). The film never really sets up any kind of conflict or apprehension between the couple to justify Spader's truly rash behavior. Yes, I get that he wanted a taste of the bad-boy life that Lowe was a part of, but he seemed to throw it all away far too easily and willingly. For the type of character that he was, I'd expect a little more internal conflict, moralizing and apprehension to go along with a decision like that. It just seems like his descent was inexplicably rapid and left a lot of questions unanswered. Beyond that, I think the ending (or last 30 minutes or so) could have been done a little better.
The good does really outweigh the bad, and the movie is genuinely worth watching if you're a fan of the genre. Don't expect a Michael Mann film, but you can definitely get some solid entertainment value out of it nonetheless.
- tpaladino
- May 20, 2011
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Todfreunde - Bad Influence
- Filming locations
- La Brea Tar Pits - 5801 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, California, USA(Multiple scenes: Alex and Michael meet at tar pits. Body is found in pits.)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $7,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $12,626,043
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $3,822,019
- Mar 11, 1990
- Gross worldwide
- $12,626,043
- Runtime1 hour 39 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1