Hollywood Memarees: Fatal Attraction 25 Years Later

[duane]

I mean, look at Arnold Schwarzenegger. He cheated on Maria Shriver--a Kennedy--with this. Look at Clinton--have any of his mistresses actually been prettier than Hilary? Younger yes. More attractive? Not in my opinion.

Dan's character is not an Arnold Schwarzenegger or a Bill Clinton (tho I think the movie would have been better if he were). It was his only affair.

But I wasn't saying that men cheat with only hot women. We're talking about a movie, and I wanted a reason why perfect life, happy family Dan would suddenly have an affair--and with such vigor! Alex being an amazingly beautiful woman would have been a reason.

[emason]

I thought Michael Douglas was a good, sexy everyman in a bunch of those films around then. Basic Instinct? Sharon Stone got the ink but Douglas kept the picture together. Also underrated in Wall Street and ....the one with Demi Moore where he was the victim of sexual harassment.

Underrated in Wall Street? He won an Oscar for that godawful scenery-chewing OTT performance. Overrated, if anything.

Disclaimer: I think Michael Douglas is the second worst actor in Hollywood. (First place goes to Tom Cruise.)

[Rex]

I mean, look at Arnold Schwarzenegger. He cheated on Maria Shriver--a Kennedy--with this.

Mildred looks like Chuy Bravo with a weave.

[duane]

Disclaimer: I think Michael Douglas is the second worst actor in Hollywood. (First place goes to Tom Cruise.)

Haven't seen many movies of either, but based on the few I have, I tend to agree with this.

Other than Born On The Fourth Of July (which I've never seen), are there any movies that required Tom to actually act?

[pat c]

Cruise was ok in Collateral, but that was out of his comfort zone and he was working with people who could act.

[Rex]

Underrated in Wall Street? He won an Oscar for that godawful scenery-chewing OTT performance. Overrated, if anything.

Disclaimer: I think Michael Douglas is the second worst actor in Hollywood. (First place goes to Tom Cruise.)

The fact that Wall Street is his one and only Oscar nom and win speaks volumes.

[PRlady]

But, but, he kept getting cast! And his movies were hits. American President made me laugh from beginning to end, it was so far-fetched, but I thought he carried off the role.

Geez, of all the issues to discover I'm a minority of one...Michael friggin' Douglas?

[Rex]

But, but, he kept getting cast! And his movies were hits. American President made me laugh from beginning to end, it was so far-fetched, but I thought he carried off the role.

Geez, of all the issues to discover I'm a minority of one...Michael friggin' Douglas?

But didn't he cast himself, since he produces many of his films?

[manhn]

The fact that Wall Street is his one and only Oscar nom and win speaks volumes.

He should've been nominated for Wonder Boys.

[Wyliefan]

American President made me laugh from beginning to end

You too, huh? I saw it at a party; all the other girls were swooning, I was mocking. It was just so SILLY.

[PRlady]

You too, huh? I saw it at a party; all the other girls were swooning, I was mocking. It was just so SILLY.

We cynical inside-the-Beltway types. Annette was as good as possible in a silly role, though.

[overedge]

But, but, he kept getting cast! And his movies were hits. American President made me laugh from beginning to end, it was so far-fetched, but I thought he carried off the role.

Geez, of all the issues to discover I'm a minority of one...Michael friggin' Douglas?

I think he's OK in the limited range of roles he usually does (business/executive type guy). But like Rex I don't get him as a big sex symbol. But since he's allegedly a sex addict, maybe Douglas himself doesn't get it either and is trying to overcompensate

[peibeck]

I have to admit, it was not BP material, but I thought it should have won Best Actress.

Although as a gay guy how could I not root for Cher, but I was rooting for Holly Hunter. "Broadcast News" and "My Life as a Dog" were my two favorite movies of that year.

And Fatal Attraction is hardly the worst Oscar nomination for Best Film ever. I'll take FA over, say, Braveheart any day.

Ugh, "Braveheart" is awful. I can't believe it WON on top of being nominated for Best Picture. But that was not really a very good year for movies either.

I think part of (or a lot of) my disdain for "Fatal Attraction" came from a lot of the press it received at the time, citing Glenn Close's character as a metaphor for AIDS.

[Alex Forrest]

He was one of the producers of the film IIRC. Of course he's gonna make his character look good. I just never got his hotness I guess. Had it been Harrison Ford as his peak, oh hell yeah. But not chicken-legged Michael Douglas.

And I have to give props to Play Misty For Me and Leave Her to Heaven. They did it first. But the ladies didn't touch Glenn performance-wise. She was scary. I think she's the one who turned me gay .

Glenn was misunderstood. She meets this cheating cad, plays with him over dinner and then he f's her on her kitchen sink. And HE is the good guy?. He kept coming back, even though he had a wife and daughter. Was it a daughter? It could have been interpreted as a son? Maybe a transgender child?

What irks me, and I get pretty cranky at times, is that Mike Douglas comes away as some sort of hero even though he cheated on his wife and misled a sexy though badly permed, chick. He should pay the price.

What I don't like about this film is that though poor Alex went a bit cray, no one ever questioned the a holes who used, abused, misused and fought her.

This movie didn't prevent cheating husbands. It is not a statement of the 80s. This movie has no relevance.

[duane]

FA is a 1930's movie with 1980's sex and violence. Dan is the good guy--the perfect husband, father, and provider who makes a mistake. Alex is the villain--an unmarried floozie who knowingly sleeps with a married man and then goes nuts. Of course, the villain dies at the end, and the redeemed good guy--reunited with his family--can live happily ever-after.

[michiruwater]

A transgender child? What, because she had a somewhat unattractive haircut? Are you serious?

[triple_toe]

Cruise was good in Magnolia IMO.

[michiruwater]

Cruise really isn't that bad an actor. Neither is Michael Douglass (I actually am surprised that so many people seem to think so). I mean, Jesus, we're ragging on them in a world that contains Keanu Reeves? Really?

And, also, An American President is like 50 shades of ridiculous and I still love it. Sometimes you just want a movie that makes you smile. Annette Bening is gorgeous in that movie, she just glows all the way through.

[Cyn]

I'll be the first to admit that Michael Douglas' character in FA was one of a Grade-A tool for sleeping with the sigh-co, but I have to disagree with the idea that he got off, for the most part, scott-free for the hell he put his family through.

I think part of the point was that even though Alex ended up swimming in her own blood with a bullet hole in her chest, the ending (at least for me), was that he was condemned to live the rest of his life with not only the guilt for the havoc and tragedy he wreaked on his family, but what the future held for his family.

Beth (Ann Archer's character), I would surely hope, gave him holy hell from then on out for what he did. IOW, if he so much as muttered one complaint about anything she may do in the future, no matter how minute, she held the ultimate trump card with "Hey, assmunch, I'm not the one who fcuked that nutbag that almost got all of us killed, so STFU and take the trash out/clean the gutters/do my very bidding/*insert snark of your choice."

[my little pony]

Geez, of all the issues to discover I'm a minority of one...Michael friggin' Douglas?

he's very good in the game, basically playing himself having a very bad week