Malice - Murder In A Sleepy College Town

May

3

Malice - Murder In A Sleepy College Town

≡ Category: Drama, Highly Recommended, Mainstream, Movie Reviews By Country, United States |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

Country: United States
Genre: Drama/ Mainstream
Director: Harold Becker
Year: 1993

Rating:

TRASH CINEMA HIGHLY RECOMMENDED MOVIE

Someone is going around raping and murdering coeds in a sleepy college town. But that isn’t college professor Andy Safian’s (Bill Pullman) only problem. His wife Tracy (Nicole Kidman) desperately wants to get pregnant and has been having severe cramps. The former big man on campus of Andy’s high school, Dr. Jed Hill (Alec Baldwin), has moved into town and is renting the upstairs bedroom, banging the local hotties until the wee hours, which aggravates Tracy to no end.

But what does Andy’s domestic problems have to do with a psychopathic rapist/murderer, you might ask? Maybe alot, maybe nothing. I’ll never tell.

Malice is a tricky and literate mystery written by Aaron Sorkin and Scott Frank, from a story by Jonas McCord (who probably wrote the original spec script). Seventeen years down the road, it still flows as smooth as butter. Aside from the script, that’s the doing of director Harold Becker. His direction is all but invisible, but I’ll just note that eliciting strong performances from every actor from the stars down to the bit parts is the mark of a strong professional.

Granted, Becker has the help of some terrific actors: Alec Baldwin, Bill Pullman, Bebe Neuwirth, George C. Scott, Anne Bancroft, Peter Gallagher, and Josef Sommer all put in appearances. Even Nicole Kidman, not the most consistent of actresses, is quite good here. And for those of us who find Gwyneth Paltrow annoying, she has a rewarding cameo as a student. Finally, if you had any doubts about the fine work of casting director Nancy Klopper, watch for an actor who has become famous for his role in an extremely influential horror movie.

And it’s not just that Klopper has found actors that successfully embody the characters in the screenplay. She has chosen actors who come with certain baggage that works to deceive the audience. That’s an elegant and effective strategy, and director Harold Becker makes the most of it.

It’s difficult to write about Malice because I can’t really discuss the characters or story in any kind of depth without spoiling the movie. That’s because Malice is really all about plot and character — it doesn’t have any larger significance.

Malice is nothing more or less than a fun story, skillfully told, with a major red herring thrown in. That’s more than enough for me.