the fresh films reviews

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Single White Female (1992)

Director:
Barbet Schroder
COUNTRY
USA
GENRE
Thriller/Drama
NORWEGIAN TITLE
Enslig ung kvinne
RUNNING TIME
107 minutes
Producer:
Barbet Schroder
Screenwriter (based on a book by Jon Lutz):
Don Roos


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Allison Jones Bridget Fonda
Hedra Carlson Jennifer Jason Leigh
Sam Rawson Steven Weber
Graham Knox Peter Friedman ½
Mitchell Meyerson Stephen Tobolowsky ½

 

Review

Fresh from his hugely successful Reversal of Fortune, Barbet Schroder turned to this downward-spiralling thriller about the career-woman Fonda and her new roommate from hell, Leigh. The fine acting and periodically intriguing script keeps the film alive early on, even though Schroder's direction is bland and mundane. His film looks good; it has great production values and wonderful sets, but at the crucial plot turns, Schroder is surprisingly conventional and uncreative. And screenwriter Don Roos rips the genre vault far too much - especially towards the end when Single White Female descends to a stock horror movie. The edge and suspense is present, but only for a few moments at a time - such as when Hedra impersonates Allison on a visit to Sam, or when Allison uses her shrewdness to uncover some of Hedra's weaknesses. In contrast to your ordinary horror, both the leads are complex and dual characters. It's just that Schroder too rarely knows how to explore them.

Copyright © 23.7.2007 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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