TO DIE FOR

Nicole Kidman

TO DIE FOR (1995). Director: Gus Van Sant.

"You're not anybody in America unless you're on TV." -- Suzanne Stone.

Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman of Eyes Wide Shut) is determined to have a career in broadcasting, and using her perch as weather girl for a local channel, works with some young people on a documentary that she hopes will get attention. Suzanne is beginning to believe that her loving husband, Larry (Matt Dillon), will only hold her back from her ambitions. Beginning an affair with the boy Jimmy Emmett (Joaquin Phoenix of The Village), Suzanne tells Jimmy that the only way they can be together permanently is if Larry is out of the picture ...

Joaquin Phoenix

To Die For was inspired by the real-life Pamela Smart case as seen in the earlier telefilm Murder in New Hampshire. It may seem in bad taste that this story -- although the names have been changed along with certain incidents, and Suzanne is much more over-the-top than the real Smart -- is played as a very dark comedy, but the film has a serious undertone throughout, and "Larry's" death is in no way made fun of. The one person who comes in for drubbing is Pamela/Suzanne, who is depicted as a self-absorbed and narcissistic monster. The audience laughs at her and her outrageousness, not with her. Based on Joyce Maynard's novel, Buck Henry's screenplay delves into celebrity, sociopathology and other trenchant topics in very entertaining fashion. 

David Cronenberg

Nicole Kidman is perfect as Suzanne, and there is also good work from Phoenix as her young lover; Dan Hedaya as Larry's father; Holland Taylor as Suzanne's mother; Illeana Douglas as Larry's sister; Casey Affleck as one of Jimmy's murdering buddies; Alison Folland as Lydia, a friend of Jimmy's; and an uncredited George Segal as a slimy newsman who gives Suzanne some sexist tips. David Cronenberg, who directed many of his own movies, shows up at the end as a hit man pretending to be a Hollywood producer. Suzanne's final fate in this movie is perhaps more satisfying than what happened to Pamela Smart, who is still in the penitentiary as of this writing!

Verdict: Absorbing, very darkly amusing film with a strong lead performance. ***. 

PERRY MASON RETURNS

Della (Hale) is comforted by Perry (Burr)

PERRY MASON RETURNS (1985). Director: Ron Satlof.

Twenty years after Perry Mason went off the air, Raymond Burr returned as the character in what would turn out to be the first of many telefilms. Della Street (Barbara Hale) is now a private secretary to a difficult wealthy man named Gordon (Patrick O'Neal). In what would become a typical development in these movies, Gordon is killed by a hit man (dressed as a woman) in order to frame Della, who goes on trial for murder with Perry as her defense lawyer. Mason, who is now a judge, quits the bench to come to Della's rescue. The many suspects include members of the dead man's family as well as assorted business rivals and personal enemies. There are good performances from Kerrie Keane [Incubus], Holland Taylor, Richard Anderson, James Kidnie, and William Katt [Carrie], Barbara Hale's real life son who plays the son of investigator Paul Drake. Frankly, there's a little too much of Drake Jr. running around hither and thither, probably to pad the running time, but this still emerges as an entertaining TV flick.

Verdict: It's good to have Perry back. ***.