Product Details

• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English, Yiddish
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: August 8, 1994
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303011985
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #705,966 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Carl Reiner tried to give the Mel Brooks treatment to the Fatal Attraction/Basic Instinct genre of films about vicious, conniving women and the not-so-bright men who get involved with them. In this case, it's Armand Assante, an actor not particularly known for his comedic chops. He plays a guy who is both a police detective and a defense attorney, so he can defend the people he arrests. He becomes the target of a female stalker (Sean Young, in a bit of typecasting), as well as the dupe in a murder plot involving his wife (Kate Nelligan). Reiner takes a scattershot approach to comedy, hoping to play in the same ballpark as the Zucker brothers or Brooks. While he hits a few singles and the occasional double, he never knocks a joke out of the park and so the movie winds up with an awful lot of pop fouls. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Movie. But DVD is lacking., May 1, 2003

By 

Jon "Jon" (Jacksonville) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fatal Instinct (DVD)

I loved this movie. It was hilarious. It is a spoof tha twas a response to the rash of, I don't how else to put it, "troubled marriage" movies that came out around this time. It makes fun of Fatal Attraction as well as Sleeping with the Enemy. Absolutly hilarious. HOWEVER, is only comes in STANDARD. I do not understand why a wide screen version is not available. The direector originally intended the movie to be widescreen. Keep it that way. If you must have one side of the DVD Standard and the other side widescreen. Grrr....

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Armand Assante is hilarious!, March 11, 2006

By 

harry44callahan (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fatal Instinct (DVD)

This is one hilarious spoof movie, but what really makes it outstanding is Armand Assante. Seeing Assante playing such a role adds immeasurably to the humor of this movie! Anyone familiar with Assante knows he has always played dramatic/heavy roles until this (check out his performance in "Q&A" with Nick Nolte or "I,the Jury" for powerful examples), and that alone carries this film to must-see status! Truly outstanding!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars FATALLY FUNNY, March 25, 2006

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fatal Instinct (DVD)

Carl Reiner's FATAL INSTINCT is a surprisingly funny spoof of movies like FATAL ATTRACTION, BASIC INSTINCT, AND CHINATOWN. It benefits from a lot of AIRPLANE like sight gags and some wonderful one liners tossed off by its unusual cast. Armand Assante, not known for comedic roles, is very funny as the cop/lawyer embroiled in with a beautiful stalker (Sean Young in a sexy performance), and a greedy wife (the usually dramatic Kate Nelligan just perfect in this role) and her dumb lover (Christopher McDonald) who plan to bump him off. Add a vindictive ex-con (James Remar), a devoted secretary (Sherilyn Fenn) and Judge Tony Randall and you have the ingredients for a rather hilarious send up. I laughed a lot and I think you will too!