1993 105 minutes. Rated R.
“Likes shooting fish in a barrel.”
Malice – Castle Rock Entertainment
Call it a thriller, call it a suspenseful drama, call it a hybrid noir of sorts, Malice is an early nineties film that has a lot of genuine suspense and action, which can be confusing if linear plot lines are your thing. Malice has that old school style that makes it easy to place in terms of decade (mid-nineties). There are certain movies though not wonderfully produced, and lacking in clarity of plot, that have a re-watch-ability mainly because of their purely entertaining premise, lack of CGI, acting chops, characters, and the pure nostalgia factor. I have to admit, when I went back to watch it as an older grown-up, I realized it had flaws.
Malice was rumored to have been shot at Smith College right here in Massachusetts. With that said, there is a natural New England starkness and darkness throughout that contribute to its film noir style. There are lots of shadows that contribute to the suspense.
A complicated plot of sorts emerges gradually with Andy Sapian (Bill Pullman) and his wife Tracy (Nicole Kidman) who live in a quaint Massachusetts college town where he teaches as a professor. Tracy works with kids and seems to love ’em, even when they are putting plastic bags over their heads (a little foreshadowing for you). There are seemingly no bad vibes here, and when the self-assured Dr. Jed Hill (Alec Baldwin, whose cockiness seems as natural to him as most people’s ability to wave a hand. I mean, he is a reputable surgeon afterall) arrives, something is definitely up. First, he meets Andy who is barely an old acquaintance (he never really chugged beers with during college, or let alone liked–“Did I used to give you a hard time?” he asks Andy when Andy re-introduces himself). After making niceties and introducing him to his wife, Andy invites the talented new implant to rent as a boarder in the large house. Stop. One’s first instinct is, who does that? What bright college professor, with a drop dead gorgeous wife, would invite a world-renowned arrogant, not-to-mention- pretty douchey doctor to live as a boarder in his house? And WHAT doctor would agree to this arrangement? A cheap one, I guess. The plot thickens.
When Andy’s agonized wife has her reproductive tract operated on by Jed ( plot thickening), who erroneously removes a viable ovary, she gets pissed; and since Andy allows it, she gets inconsolably pissed, leaving him and suing Dr. God. This is where things get really odd. After re-watching several times, I tend to think that this strangeness is owing to the movie’s unrealistic set-up. It works because it has a great twist and Andy goes through a major character change which is highly entertaining to watch even if the film is flimsy at times. Kidman’s cold murderous resolve is so exciting to me, mainly because I’ve never seen the Aussie so relentless. I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge Kidman fan, but a psychotic Kidman, I’ll take any day!
Tracy’s embittered alcoholic mother, Mrs. Kennsinger (Ann Bancroft), is a brilliant character to watch. Bancroft is incredible as the edgy, no-nonsense, pragmatic, shoots-straight-from-the-hip (and very alcoholic) matriarch. Andy learns from Tracy’s lawyer in the lawsuit (ding ding) that the woman Andy thought was dead for all this time can be sweet talked with some good scotch, “leave the bottle,” says Tracy’s warning counsel Dennis Riley (Peter Gallagher). The scene between Andy and Mrs. Kennsinger bodes well for Andy’s information seeking, and the dialog is razor sharp. This is one of my favorite movie scenes; Ann Bancroft owns and delivers. She knows her bitter Boston ladies.
All in all, navigating the plot (or plots) of Malice is tricky, what with the subplot involving the college serial rapist, but it still works in terms of pure entertainment standards. I can seriously re-visit this film every six months and it’s a pleasure, despite my knowledge of the ending. Like Point Break, Princess Bride, The Graduate, and many more I could name, Malice, though perhaps slightly melodramatic and containing an overly sinuous plot, is worth a revisit or two, if for Kidman’s killer ice queen portrayal alone.
