CLEOPATRA'S SECOND HUSBAND --------------------------
When Robert (Paul Hipp, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil") and his overbearing wife Hallie (Bitty Schram, "Kissing a Fool") plan a babymaking trip to the country, friends of friends Zack (Boyd Kestner, G.I. Jane") and Sophie (Radha Mitchell, "Pitch Black") move in to take care of their dog and exotic tropical fish. When they get home, they encounter disarray, dead fish, seduction and psychological game playing in feature debut writer/director Jon Reiss' "Cleopatra's Second Husband."
LAURA:
Reiss claims to have based his tale on a true life housesitting incident combined with Marc Anthony's decline in the wake of his passion for Cleopatra. He makes no mention of the Dutch film (and its American remake) "The Vanishing," although clearly it inspired his third act.
After Zack and Sophie declare they're unable to find their own place in LA, Robert quickly becomes enthralled by sexy Sophie and Hallie departs after catching the two together. Zack seems perfectly willing to share Sophie, but when he forces himself on Robert, Sophie leaves in disgust. Zack continues to dominate Robert, even buying him an apron, while clouding his true intentions with a show of friendship and camaraderie. Eventually Robert wises up and plots an elaborate revenge.
While the script contains some good (albeit unoriginal) ideas, the story is so oddly executed that it frequently seems weird for weirdness' sake. Robert, a photographer existing on inheritted money, stops to photograph maggots on roadkill during his country idyll. 'Maggots and dead things - I like it.' says Sophie later as she watches him develop the picture. This is strange and offputting, but leads absolutely nowhere, nor does it provide any character illumination.
The only character who's the least bit likeable is the promiscuous Sophie, yet we wonder how she ended up with evil Zack and what their history was. Robert is a henpecked schlmemiel who's introduced hosting a dinner party of annoying yuppies impressed with pretense. Hallie is unbearable and joyless, demanding sex once a month only in order to get pregnant, because that's the way it's done. Zack is a slovenly satyr and a leech. The cast can't be faulted as they all do a good job playing their characters.
"Cleopatra's Second Husband" would make an OK diversion for late night cable, but as a theatrical feature it's appeal will be extremely limitted. The film completely loses its stream in its final act which is unsatisfying and unappealing.
C-
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