DISCLOSURE
A film review by Jon A. Webb
Copyright 1994 Jon A. Webb
DISCLOSURE has Michael Douglas essentially reprising his roles from FATAL ATTRACTION and BASIC INSTINCT; for some reason he seems to be incredibly attractive to successful, dangerous women. Here his pursuer is played by Demi Moore.
The film is badly miscast. It is supposed to be taking place in a high-tech company developing virtual reality technology, but no manager in it is anything like a person who would be involved in such a company. Demi Moore particularly stands out as an oddball. Tight skirts, aggressive attitude, polished manner reminiscent of someone selling real estate--this is nothing like what these companies are like. Donald Sutherland is also similarly odd.
Michael Douglas is also oddly not suited to his role. He can certainly play the object of desire, but as a technical manager he doesn't make sense.
Dennis Miller has a small, promising role. I think he has good potential as an actor. His sardonic style leavened with flashes of wit gives him quite a bit of range.
But I think the most glaring error in the film is in the direction. Certain things are simply not established well, or are allowed to run on in the wrong way; the interaction between Douglas and Moore in particular, and the relationship between Sutherland and Moore. Is she being promoted simply as a replacement for Douglas, and why--since she is demonstrably incompetent? Certain behaviors do not make sense, like Douglas's secretary continually turning around to see what's going on in her boss's office. A competent secretary would not do this.
It wasn't until after the film was over that I realized that I had no idea why what happened happened. Was Demi Moore's attempted seduction a calculated attempt to get Michael Douglas fired and, if so, how? Was she put up to it by Donald Sutherland? What was really supposed to be going on in this film? Either the direction or the editing left something seriously missing from this film.
The preview for the film gave me the impression that there was some nifty high tech secret underlying the main plot; this is not true. The surface plot is all there is, with some fairly vanilla high-tech virtual-reality stuff thrown in.
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