Well, after watching this movie (knowing that it was similar to the classic 'Fatal Attraction') - I smiled and shook my head because even though the movie is so predictable, there could have been so much done to change the characters from predictably stupid to vaguely normal.
Having said that, given what they had, the acting was actually quite good. I said good. Not wonderful, not great. Just good. Casting was excellent. Madison (Erika Christensen) is perfectly cast. She looks so seductive, innocent and devilish at the same time. Amy (Shiri Appleby) is fantastically cast as the somewhat quiet girlfriend of Ben (Jesse Bradford). Both girls are very beautiful, which adds to the sex appeal of the movie as well as the plot. We aren't told so, but it's more than obvious that although Ben and Amy are in love, they don't get intimate too often, leading to Ben's weakness (and he didn't try to stop Madison's advances too hard) and his ultimate mistake.
The direction is quite good. Camera angles are suspenseful, lighting is excellent, with an obvious emphasis on blue (which, through the whole movie, exudes a rather powerful 'chilling' feeling) The pacing of the movie in general is okay, although something tells me that a lot of key scenes are lying on the cutting-room floor ... and this brings me to the negatives.
The story is terrible. Apart from the 'Fatal Attraction' clone (which isn't a problem in itself) - the characters are insanely stupid and naive. As a viewer, you are dragged straight into the story with absolutely no room to begin to understand the characters. There is absolutely no character development, no character arcs and no plot twists whatsoever. We are not given any motivation as to why Madison is the way she is, what her motivations are, why she's attracted to Ben (or other athletes), how she really got to know about Ben so soon, and we're also rushed through major scenes in the movie (the urine-switch etc.) It all culminates to an overly-dramatic climax which is frankly quite disappointing but predictable. I would like to have seen a 'stalker wins' kind of ending, just adding another victim to her tally.
If the point of the movie was to be a dramatic thriller, then they failed miserably. Too dramatic, not thrilling. Mildly comedic, and quite irritating at times. You just want to shake Ben and say to him (when the coach tells him that his urine tested positive for steroids) "Dude! Demand a re-analysis! MAKE A FUSS for crying out loud!!" - But he stupidly walks off after a weak attempt at convincing the coach of his innocence, only to open his locker and find a baseball bat (as a viewer, I thought "Huh? Where did this come from??") Anyway, a passable movie...entertaining but not good enough to make me want to watch it again in a hurry. Major plot holes, stupid characters and key elements that were glanced over or cut out (or not written in the first place) changes this from a 8/10 to a 5/10.
Surprising though, I thought that Polson did a fantastic job with Hide & Seek. Lets hope he keeps improving!
Having said that, given what they had, the acting was actually quite good. I said good. Not wonderful, not great. Just good. Casting was excellent. Madison (Erika Christensen) is perfectly cast. She looks so seductive, innocent and devilish at the same time. Amy (Shiri Appleby) is fantastically cast as the somewhat quiet girlfriend of Ben (Jesse Bradford). Both girls are very beautiful, which adds to the sex appeal of the movie as well as the plot. We aren't told so, but it's more than obvious that although Ben and Amy are in love, they don't get intimate too often, leading to Ben's weakness (and he didn't try to stop Madison's advances too hard) and his ultimate mistake.
The direction is quite good. Camera angles are suspenseful, lighting is excellent, with an obvious emphasis on blue (which, through the whole movie, exudes a rather powerful 'chilling' feeling) The pacing of the movie in general is okay, although something tells me that a lot of key scenes are lying on the cutting-room floor ... and this brings me to the negatives.
The story is terrible. Apart from the 'Fatal Attraction' clone (which isn't a problem in itself) - the characters are insanely stupid and naive. As a viewer, you are dragged straight into the story with absolutely no room to begin to understand the characters. There is absolutely no character development, no character arcs and no plot twists whatsoever. We are not given any motivation as to why Madison is the way she is, what her motivations are, why she's attracted to Ben (or other athletes), how she really got to know about Ben so soon, and we're also rushed through major scenes in the movie (the urine-switch etc.) It all culminates to an overly-dramatic climax which is frankly quite disappointing but predictable. I would like to have seen a 'stalker wins' kind of ending, just adding another victim to her tally.
If the point of the movie was to be a dramatic thriller, then they failed miserably. Too dramatic, not thrilling. Mildly comedic, and quite irritating at times. You just want to shake Ben and say to him (when the coach tells him that his urine tested positive for steroids) "Dude! Demand a re-analysis! MAKE A FUSS for crying out loud!!" - But he stupidly walks off after a weak attempt at convincing the coach of his innocence, only to open his locker and find a baseball bat (as a viewer, I thought "Huh? Where did this come from??") Anyway, a passable movie...entertaining but not good enough to make me want to watch it again in a hurry. Major plot holes, stupid characters and key elements that were glanced over or cut out (or not written in the first place) changes this from a 8/10 to a 5/10.
Surprising though, I thought that Polson did a fantastic job with Hide & Seek. Lets hope he keeps improving!