Customer Reviews

The Curve

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Without rehasing the plot which can be found in the other good reviews, THE CURVE is a disturbing film and mainly because the bad guys seem to have no moral foundation at all. Matthew Lillard in a devilishly demonic performance, finds it easy to just roll Randall Batinkoff off the cliff. As the movie progresses, his deliciously psychotic character does everything he can to be obnoxious, manipulative and heartless. Rarely has a character seemed so heartless and malicious as his buddy, Randall Batinkoff. He treats his girlfriend so badly you want him to be dead. Keri Russell becomes a chameleon, one never knows what to expect from this girl. And Michael Vartan as the focal "hero," Chris, seems to be innocently oblivious to the deadly mechanisms Lillard is orchestrating. Add Dana Delany as a psychiatrist trapped by her knowledge of how these vicious minds are working and you have a cast of unusually non-empathic characters.
What makes it work though are the several unexpected twists that come in the movie. Subtle hints are given throughout the film, but they still pack a wallop at the end.
THE CURVE is a sophisticated and tidy little thriller that should have received a little more notice, but it is a Hitchcockian tribute well done.

Put all of the "this plot has been done before" thoughts aside, and this is a pretty decent movie. Actually, I thought it was more surprising and more believable that some of the other teen/colleage age horror/murder films. It had me wondering right up until the end if my assumption of what was really going on was right. I think it is definitely worth checking out.

Great plot and suspense! It's the Usual Suspects set to a college enviornment!
The plot twists and turns, keeping you constantly guessing, with no way for you to know how it ends. It's one of those films, like the Usual Suspects, that you want to watch multiple times and every time you see it you catch something new.
The dialogue is clever, the acting superb. This is a definite must-see!!!!!

When I first started watching this movie (I'm over 70) I thought "oh,just another kid's movie. I don't need this". Well, fortunately I didn't switch the dial and continued to watch. Further and further I was drawn into this, could be real, senerio.

What a mystery, twists and turns...not to mention the great acting. This is a lost leader. Pick up a copy and enjoy the suspense and good acting!

This straight-to-video release is actually a lot better than a lot of postmodern thrillers that have been scurried to the shelves in the wake of the hugely successful 'Scream' movies. It's plot has two college guys plotting to kill off their roomate because it will ensure them a 4.0 grade average, getting them both into Harvard. After all, their friend Rand is an easy target, what with his girlfriend Natalie getting pregnant and the depressing range of books and CDs that his mates leave by his bed. And so it's done, the only problem being that a body can't be found and the police start sniffing around.

Lillard is exceptional as the canniving lead, especially when the extent of his scheme becomes apparent to the guy he plots with. Twist after twist follows this but unlike something like 'Wild Things', the movie manages to pull them off well. In particular the last scene is very gripping indeed, and it's not without a good dollop of black humour. If this is never quite as scary as 'Jeepers Creepers' or as consistently witty as 'Scream', it is still a real original in the horror field and is genuinely intelligent.

My college age son and I were enthralled by this film which features three roommates whose zealous attempts to get into Harvard Business school lead to an elaborate plot involving their present university's policy of handing out 4.0 grade point averages if a roommate commits suicide. The plot which begins with a manipulated suicide twists and turns with Hitchcockian flashbacks told in different points of view until the viewer is not quite sure what has happened until the ending---some rewinding may be necessary here to catch some of the nuanced and crucial dialogue. None of the characters in this film are likeable accept perhaps for Chris (Vartan). As he takes his grades so seriously that the stress renders him impotent, the audience at least sympathizes with him on some level albeit not a moral one. The other male characters, Tim and Rand, are so disgustingly unethical and devoid of any inner spiritualism one has to wonder how the actors maintained that empty black hole look that mirrored so effectively the conditions of their characters' souls. Keri Russell of 'Felicity' fame manages to shrug off her good girl persona with an equally ambitious attempt at a portrayal of an essentially soul-less character, although she doesn't quite succeed in being as believable as the two lead males. The most fascinating aspect of the film was the idea that such abject lying and cheating could be employed to move obstacles obstructing the heart's present desire without the physical blinking of an eye or any other sign of psychological reomorse. Makes you wonder what kind of people the writers of this film hang out with and if these are the types that actually go to the nation's top schools. Very scary.

The Curve (Dan Rosen, 1998)

It is the painful reality of the American moviegoer that in any year more than one film is released on the same subject, the better film will never fail to either be completely eclipsed, publicity-wise, by the worse film (the good, but nothing great, The Lost Boys overshadowing one of the best modern American films, Near Dark), or the better film will simply not be widely released. Such was the case in 1998 with the horrifically bad Dead Man on Campus and its clever companion The Curve. The latter debuted at the Sundance Film Festival eight months before the release of the former, then disappeared until a video release almost eighteen months later. More's the pity for those who subjected themselves to the MTV-Films-produced monstrosity that was Dead Man on Campus.

Both films center around the same idea-the urban legend that if a collegiate's roommate commits suicide, that collegiate will be granted a 4.0 grade point average for the semester. (Both were, in fact, inspired by the same event-a monologue on a standup comedy show on MTV, which is presented in voiceover at the beginning of The Curve.) Dead Man on Campus played the idea for laughs. The Curve, on the other hand, took the idea and turned it into one of the most intriguing pieces to come out of the new film noir movement.

The film centers around five college seniors. Rand (Randall Batinkoff, of Christy fame), Tim (Matthew "Shaggy" Lillard), and Chris (Michael Vartan, most recently seen in One Hour Photo) are roommates; Rand and Chris are also dating roommates Natalie (Tamara Craig Thomas of Odyssey 5) and Emma (Keri Russell, back when she still had great hair). Chris and Tim's grades have both dropped over the semester, and Tim suggests the inevitable: the two of them conspire to kill Rand, whom no one's fond of anyway, and make it look like a suicide. The plot twists, turns, and hairpins from there, becoming that rarest of film birds, an impossibly complex maze that remains easy to follow until the last few minutes (and a few moments of reflection after the movie is over will put everything into place that happens during the climax and denoument).

Many of the reviews I could drum up about the obscure little gem focused on the performance of Matthew Lillard as the borderline psychotic Tim, but to me it was Vartan who truly stood out in this high-powered cast (which also includes such B-level stalwarts as Dana Delany and Henry Strozier). Rare is the role that requires an actor to play the kind of apathetic confusion one often finds in bad slasher films; here we get a chance to see that done right, it's actually workable. Chris, likeably confused throughout, is the perfect foil to Lillard's manic Tim, and the two create an atmosphere of friendship concealing a barely suppressed violence towards one another that gives the film an electricity it needed to stay on track throughout.

Obscure, but well worth tracking down for folks who like their mystery with more twists and turns than a Jane Russell Playtex ad. ****

I found this film very entertaining. Although I thought there'd be a twist at the end it wasn't the one I was expecting.

You can't exactly 'warm' to the character's but Matthew Lillard is excellent as instigator and plays his role with his usual energy. Michael Vartan is also good as his room mate who reluctantly helps Lillard carry out the killing.

The film leads you first one way and then another until the final dramatic ending. Even though you'll think you've guessed it, chances are you haven't!

see this film at first looks, b'ish, low budget, independant film, but that seems to be what I prefer anyways, none the less, this film is great, ulrich, is one of the masters of horror, besides, he's an intense, crazy, actor,and he's beautifully talented,anyways, the film has many plot turns,and tons of deceit,and some kinky situations, but that isn't the best thing. the cigar shop scenerio, where he tells him about the world, is the best scene i've seen in film for many years, get this, or miss out.

I liked the film and was surprised to read some of these bad reveiws which seemed like thinly veiled resentful ex-producers lashing out. Having seen the film on the big screen in England it surprises me to here people in the US refer to the film as some Cable cash in on "Scream". It was at Sundance BEFORE Dead Man on Campus, Idle Hands, etc. In the UK this film was seen as a clever take on "good-looking selfish American killers". No, I don't like these people but, isn't that the point? And be honest, you might have predicted that there would be "A" twist but not the twists that happened. I saw the film again on video and really enjoyed watching it knowing the outcome. P.S. Pick up the soundtrack, the Goth/Herrmann hybrid is very Cool indeed!