DISCLOSURE
A film review by Jeffrey Graebner
Copyright 1994 Jeffrey Graebner
Barry Levinson's big-budget, star-studded film adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel DISCLOSURE has been promoted as a social drama that turns the issue of sexual harassment on its side through the use of a gender reversal. In reality, the harassment issue really is just a plot point in a glossy, high-tech thriller about corporate politics. The resulting film is somewhat short on meaningful social commentary, but it is still a fast-paced and extremely entertaining crowd pleaser.
Michael Douglas stars as Tom Sanders, the head of manufacturing for a fictional computer company called Digicorp. Sanders is up for a major promotion but is passed up in favor of Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore), who coincidentally used to live with Sanders (who is now happily married with children). When Sanders turns down Johnson's attempt at seduction during an after-hours meeting, each accuses the other of sexual harassment. The stakes are raised by the high amounts of money that both Sanders and Johnson stand to make from a planned merger between Digicorp and another company. The merger is in danger of being derailed if Sanders cannot find a reason for major manufacturing problems with Digicorp's new high speed computer CD-ROM, a product that is the major selling point in the merger.
Of course, the big hook in this story is the gender switch of having a man being sexually harassed by a female boss. Even more than in Crichton's novel, screenwriter Paul Attanasio leaves little ambiguity about the harassment scene. The dialog explicitly reminds us that sexual harassment is really about power instead of about sex and it is made very clear that Sanders never had any power over Johnson. The majority of the film is told directly from Sanders' point-of-view which serves to further underscore the audience's view of him as a victim. This lack of ambiguity hammers home the belief that sexual harassment is likely to originate with either gender, but it doesn't really explore that view with much depth.
As with Crichton's novel, this idea is likely going to surround the film with some controversy. Some may call the film sexist based primarily on the negative portrayal of a female executive and on the simple suggestion that a woman could sexually harass a man. An attempt is made to alleviate these accusations by including several strong, sympathetic women in supporting roles. As in the novel, Sanders hires a female attorney (Roma Maffia of the TV series "Chicago Hope") to represent him in his sexual harassment claim. The film also beefs up the role of Sanders' wife (Caroline Goodall), keeping her actively involved in more of the story. The film also includes a few strong scenes with other female executives at Digicorp, including one particularly effective sequence in which one of Sanders' peers asks him to think about why she wasn't even *considered* as a likely candidate for the promotion.
The sexual harassment case is actually dispensed with surprisingly early in the film, revealing that is was just a small component in a more complicated story of corporate politics. The latter half of the film essentially turns into a high-tech detective story as Sanders struggles to learn Johnson's true motivations in order to hang on to his job. This is actually the most interesting aspect of the film. Director Barry Levinson keeps this part of the film moving at a very rapid pace and most of the plot details are revealed in a logical and believable manner.
Michael Douglas is good in the role of Tom Sanders, although he isn't really required to stretch much as an actor. This role is essentially another variation on the characters that he played in FATAL ATTRACTION and BASIC INSTINCT. Crichton has a bit of a tendency in his novels to seemingly describe the actor that he is thinking of for the lead roles. Reading the novel, it is *very* easy to picture Douglas as Tom Sanders.
On the other hand, Demi Moore is probably *not* the first person that most people would imagine in the role of Meredith Johnson. Her past roles have never really showed the ruthless edge that the character calls for. Moore shows some surprising versatility in this role and manages to play the role quite convincingly. Unfortunately, Attanasio's script draws the character somewhat two-dimensionally. In an effort to streamline the story, the film eliminates a couple subplots from the novel that served to make Johnson's motivations clearer. In the film, she ends up seeming more incompetent while in the book she seemed much more in control. The fact that the character works at all is very much due to the strength of Moore's acting.
The streamlining of the script also reduces the significance of Bob Garvin (Donald Sutherland), Digicorp's CEO. The film constantly keeps the audience in the dark about his motivations and about how much he is aware of what is going on. Sutherland does the best he can, but the role turns out to be rather thankless. Some of the other supporting roles are more interesting. Particularly strong performances are given by Roma Maffia as the lawyer, Caroline Goodall as Sanders' wife, Dennis Miller (in a semi-serious role) and Nicholas Sadler as techies on Sanders' staff.
As is usually the case in Michael Crichton's stories, technology ends up playing a major role in DISCLOSURE. Characters are constantly using computers to communicate or gather information. Electronic mail and computer-based video conferencing are major forms of communication in Digicorp. One of the film's highlights is a big climactic scene involving a virtual-reality based filing system. This sequence features some very impressive computer graphics effects created by Industrial Light and Magic. While some of the technology is a bit futuristic (particularly the Virtual Reality sequence) to be commonplace in today's business, nothing is shown that is entirely beyond the capabilities of today. The various computer interfaces shown do tend to be more photogenic than practical.
While Attanasio's screenplay does muddy some of the motivations behind the story, it is still a generally effective adaptation. He streamlined Crichton's story by eliminating a few unnecessary characters and subplots. He also managed to introduce some appreciated touches of humor which were absent from Crichton's generally humorless novel. The writing isn't quite as intelligent as Attanasio's earlier script for QUIZ SHOW, but it still does manage to inject some moments of insight.
After seriously misfiring with TOYS and JIMMY HOLLYWOOD, Levinson is essentially working as a hired hand on this film. The direction is very slick and confident, though, and the film moves along at a very rapid pace. In a departure for a Barry Levinson film, this one is shot in Panavision (by Tony Pierce-Roberts) and the widescreen frame is well used to highlight the impressive sets created for the Digicorp offices as well as some of the high- tech special effects. Ennio Morricone's score is unmemorable but not intrusive.
DISCLOSURE doesn't really succeed as the controversial morality play that is promised in the advertising, but it does work as a very entertaining corporate thriller. The movie isn't nearly as deep as it would like to be, but it does manage to be a lot of fun.
-- Jeffrey P. Graebner Columbus, Ohio
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