I would call this a major disappointment if not for the fact that I've always heard it was pretty bad before I finally got around to seeing it. But it's still a major letdown in the sense that I generally enjoy Brian DePalma's films, so I was quite shocked that this was completely empty in every way. And to add insult to injury, DePalma even wrote this nonsense! It features John Lithgow as a crackpot with multiple personalities who kidnaps little children and is tormented by the memories of his equally nutty dad, who made him the basket case he is today. We're never quite sure what the point of everything is supposed to be; the plot is nowhere to be found. All we can surmise is that this detached husband/father has different people battling inside of him. Well, that may have been enough at one time in cinematic history, but by 1992 it was too old hat on its own to sustain interest. As bad as this movie is, I at least expected Lithgow to make a good looney bird; instead, his dopey characterizations come off as funny rather than intense or threatening. He adds nothing to the mix, and neither do the other actors nor their characters.
I didn't even get the usual vibe of intriguing direction from DePalma, and what very few instances of visual style I could see were things not only borrowed from Hitchcock (as we're now prepared to expect), but even DePalma's own DRESSED TO KILL (1980)! I found this dog to be completely without worth, and that's why I gave it my lowest rating. 0 out of ****
I didn't even get the usual vibe of intriguing direction from DePalma, and what very few instances of visual style I could see were things not only borrowed from Hitchcock (as we're now prepared to expect), but even DePalma's own DRESSED TO KILL (1980)! I found this dog to be completely without worth, and that's why I gave it my lowest rating. 0 out of ****