Customer Reviews

The Right Temptation

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

 

 

In "The Right Temptation" Rebecca DeMornay plays Derian McCall, a former undercover cop who is now a private detective and who is hired by Anthea Farrow-Smith (Dana Delany) to investigate her husband, Michael (Kiefer Sutherland), who she believes might be cheating on her. Anthea insists that she would be more comfortable with a woman doing the job, which is how Derian gets the gig. But from the start we get a bad vibe about this. There is something about Anthea that does not scan right and if Derian is a bit behind us in her suspicions she does her best to catch up. However, that takes a bit of doing in this film.

Early on in this 2000 thriller I thought I knew what was going on, but I had about as much trouble as Derian did in catching up with what is going on. In fact, at some point Derian passed me, which is where I ended up liking this film more than I had thought I would. Every time you think you know what is going on you have no faith in your guess, and that is part of the fun. In a world where too many thrillers are stupidly predictable "The Right Temptation" defies you to figure out what is going on. The script by Larry Brand ("Halloween: Resurrection") might not qualify as being brilliant gamesmanship, but it is at least moving in the right direction.

DeMornay does a good job in the lead role. Her character keeps having flashbacks as we see what happened that made her quit being a cop, and we pay attention because we know it has to have something to do with how this storyline is going to get resolved. We know not to trust Delaney's character from the start and every time she smiles you just know it is not a good sign. Sutherland is rather disappointing in that he brings so little to the role, especially compared to what we have seem him do as Jack Bauer on "24." But overall the acting is competent enough as it Lyndon Chubbuck's direction. The question is whether you like movies that are like Russian nesting dolls (aka Matryoshka), where inside each doll there is another one. "The Right Temptation" is at least above average and worth a look for thriller fans.

This film has a good story that unravels at the end. Still, for a small independent film, it is intriguing, handling the mystery element well. Derien (Rebecca De Mornay) is a former vice cop now working as a private detective. Anthea (Dana Delaney) hires her to follow her husband Michael (Kiefer Sutherland) to see if he is cheating on her. After a few uneventful days of surveillance, Anthea is still not satisfied, so she adds a new dimension to the assignment. She proposes that Derien try to seduce her husband to test his fidelity. His response is predictable; the rest is not.

The story has some interesting and innovative twists, but becomes incongruous at the end. Without giving away the ending, all I can say is the director needed to do more research on forensics, because a suspect who is arrested for murder in the film would have been cleared 30 minutes after being detained in the real world.

The cast gives a solid performance. Kiefer Sutherland has played so many demented characters in his career that it is something of a shock seeing him in so normal a role. His character is no angel, but at least he isn't a sociopath. Sutherland gives a good performance but makes his character almost too nice. Rebecca De Mornay is back in shape, after a flaccid performance in "A Table for One". This is actually the best I can remember her in quite some time. She is effective at rendering a character that is tough on the outside and tortured on the inside, with more than one weak spot in her psyche. Dana Delany is devious and duplicitous as the scheming wife.

Overall, this B movie could have been better, but it is far from bad. I rated it a 6/10. If you enjoy mysteries, it might be worth a try.

I got this because I'm a Kiefer Sutherland fan. Rebecca DeMornay was in this much more than Kiefer - that was a little disappointing because he had lead billing. It was kind of an odd story with bizarre flashbacks. Interesting, though, with twists and turns. Worth watching, but don't go out of your way for it.

Although I have seen the main characters in better movies this one is not all that bad.You never know what character Ms. DeMornay is going to play which makes her movies fun to watch!Kiefer Sutherland is pretty good too but Delaney is one dimensional!Decent thriller and the guy Ms. DeMornay flashes back to and who got shot at the beginning should have won an Oscar for his performance!!!!!!!

this was a cool sexy movie. It is nice to see kiefer sutherland in a romancey thriller type of movie. He usually is a freak. I thought the plot was pretty good it probably could have been better but oh well. I really thought it was interesting how the girl falls in love even though she is supposed to be on the job naughty naughty. I unfortunatly had to watch this movie on the lifetime network a silly t.v. thing for woman. I saw this movie and suddenly became interested in Kiefer's movies. I haven't seen them all but i hope to someday.

This film will keep your attention however, if you watch the trailer first, you'll know everything. Including the twists that occur throughout the film. While the film had promise, it suffered from a deplorable lack of substance and plausible storyline. If you avoid this feature, even at the rental counter, you will have yielded to...The Right Temptation. 1 star.

This film very much plays up that noir-ish quality one would find in some old-school detective novels. It's hard-boiled and ham-fisted all the way. It could even be considered a little bit fun, but it has some problems.

Rebecca De Mornay is easily the best performance of the group here (and the only worthwhile one). She's got the acting chops to play things cold and hard, yet still has the looks to bring in the sexual component needed. While being played by both ends, courtesy of Dana Delany and Kiefer Sutherland, we also get a look into her character's past, that shows her to be just as much damaged goods as anyone else involved in this duplicitous love triangle and murder scheme.

Unfortunately, while De Mornay shines in her role, the same cannot be said for the others. Delany's attempts to play up being a criminally-minded femme are completely undone every time she smirks. You never believe anything she's telling you, which makes you wonder why anyone else would. Meanwhile, Kiefer Sutherland's character is simply bland a boring. There is no real chemistry in their performances, unless it is supplied by De Mornay's character. It is a clear cut case of highly-talented actors, wasting said talent on material that is beneath their skills.

The film is well shot and has some very nice settings, but the last 10-15 minutes of the film ruins much of the tension built-up before, as what happens in them is more hackneyed and telegraphed, than in a Mickey Spillane pulp fiction story. Also, the film is rated "R," but there didn't seem to be much in the movie that seemed to require such a rating. Remove a few f-bombs, and trim the one main love-making scene by a few seconds, and it is PG-13 material all the way.

In the end, it is only Rebecca De Mornay who gives this film any real interest or life, as she pretty much carries anything of value within it single-handed. Everything else is just dime store novel reject material, which explains why it went straight to DVD. Still, it is watchable, even if in a trashy way. This is no great mystery or caper flick, but something to pass the time and quickly be forgotten shortly thereafter.

Not exactly a high-budget blockbuster here, despite the three high-profile main actors. Rebecca DeMornay plays a complex character who seems to be juggling toughness, street smarts and independence with a vulnerability and sensitivity to the idea of relationships. Interesting enough, but then she just ends up being DUMB in the end. In fact, the whole end is dumb, with one eventful (but predictable) scene and the rest of the movie just fizzling out--blah. Keifer Sutherland plays the macho main role who handily takes on five gangbangers at once with a crowbar (and conveniently for him, none of the gangbangers had any knives or guns to defend themselves with against the 160 lb. businessman Sutherland character--yeah, right). He would have been wasted in a flash in real life, c'mon!

Just a pretty lame movie, overall. The story was overall pretty good, but some of the more farfetched scenes and the weak ending just kind of ruined it for me.

Promising cast let down by frankly awful screenplay. Poor directing meant that dramatic tension was noticeable by its almost complete absence, and character development was also weak. I think most of the people reading this review could have made a better job of this movie than the people who actually produced it.

I thought it was a very good movie, kept me guessing at times. I didn't have to guess about Rebecca DeMornay and her sex scenes. I thought everyone's acting was very good except the dork who got shot in the beginning and "Rebecca" kept flashing back to from time to time. Found out that he's Rebecca's real life husband and he must be the kind of guy who likes watching his wife in action with other men,or maybe he's her pimp,or maybe he's a momma's boy,whatever I can see his pride when he shows his kids what mom does to pay the bills. I think Ms.DeMornay is a great actress when she doesn't sell herself short, but when your somebody's "sugar mommy" a girl has to do what she has to do. Put your arm around him and tell him he's your hero and maybe he'll feel better.