INDECENT PROPOSAL
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Date Released: 4/7/93 Running Length: 1:55 Rated: R (Sex, nudity, language)
Starring: Robert Redford, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson,
Seymour Cassel, Oliver Platt
Director: Adrian Lyne
Producer: Sherry Lansing
Screenplay: Amy Holden Jones
Music: John Barry
Released by Paramount Pictures
David and Diana Murphy (Woody Harrelson and Demi Moore) are the ideal young couple. They have everything--love, affection, companionship--except money. Their combined meager income is just enough to keep them afloat, but when the recession hits and David loses his job, they go under. Needing fifty thousand dollars to satisfy their creditors, but possessing only five, they go to Vegas to get the rest at the tables. There they meet John Gage (Robert Redford), a billionaire businessman who throws around millions like pocket change. Gage is instantly attracted to Diana and, in an attempt to lure her away from her husband, makes a proposal: he will give David one million dollars for one night with his wife.
Director Adrian Lyne, best known for bringing FATAL ATTRACTION to the screen, is at the helm for INDECENT PROPOSAL. One of the key elements of the 1987 Glenn Close/Michael Douglas thriller--obsession-- is present here, albeit without the tension and violence that gave FATAL ATTRACTION its spark. Here, a similar-yet-different situation is examined from another perspective. Gage goes after Diana not with knives and threats, but with kind words, generous gifts, and moving tales of his youth.
There are undercurrents of a fabulous movie in INDECENT PROPOSAL, but too few of them surface. The plot is littered with small implausibilities and several too-obvious plot devices. There are also moments of manipulation that are so obvious that the director should hang his head in shame for thinking to bring tears to the eyes of the viewers through such a lack of subtlety.
The story is divided into three parts: the setup, the "act," and the aftermath. Despite a somewhat confused sense of time early in the film, most of the first part works. We get a real sense of character and the relationship between Diana and David comes across as genuine. Woody Harrelson, who often doesn't seem up to his role, gives his best performance in the first forty minutes.
The second part of the story is equally as good, owing in large part to strong performances by Demi Moore and Robert Redford. Redford, no longer the sex symbol he once was, manages to do an effective job as a jaded, lonely man who wants nothing more than to capture the one thing that has eluded him for his entire life: love.
Would that the last hour of the film was as good as the first. The two major flaws in the story come during this section, one at the beginning and one at the end. It's difficult to imagine the characters doing some of the things they do, and obvious that the demands of the story are forcing them to act differently from what we expect. It's almost impossible to believe that a marriage as strong as that between David and Diana could be put under this much pressure by something that, in its essence, is simple.
I suppose the message of the movie is that money can't buy love, but that message gets so muddled during the second half of the film that we're not sure what to believe by the end. The last few scenes are a distinct let-down as the writer resorts to a hard-to-believe quick fix to conclude things.
Another problem is that the characters overexplain things. From the voice-over narration to the incessant unnecessary commentary, nothing is left to the viewer to figure out on his or her own. Any time there could be a misinterpretation of what has gone on, someone will say something to clarify matters. For a movie that is supposed to be a "thinking romance," this one doesn't have a high opinion of who's supposed to be doing the thinking.
As I mentioned earlier, while Moore and Redford hold their own nicely, Woody Harrelson has trouble once his role requires more from him than smiles, kisses, and tender stroking. He goes through all the motions, but the force of emotion necessary for us to empathize with David is absent. As a result, we see what happens but don't form a necessary bond with him.
INDECENT PROPOSAL begins with a premise that, while not new, can be interesting to explore. The movie gets off to a good start, but the need to mold the story into a recognizable Hollywood "type" hurts its chances of saying or being anything better than mediocre. Director Adrian Lyne may not be remaking FATAL ATTRACTION, but the same audience-pleasing mentality is evident in the surprisingly-stagnant INDECENT PROPOSAL.
Rating: 7.2 (B-, **1/2)
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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