Customer Reviews

Tempted

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Burt Reynolds and New Orleans. First thought is of Smoky and the Bandit. No such luck, this is a movie adapted for cable and television because, well, because it wasn't quite good enough for the theatre. Hot, steamy and tropical, New Orleans; yes, NOLA is all that. So three stars for NOLA.

This movie, "Tempted" takes place in New Orleans, but it is a typical romance, thriller, mystery. Charlie, (Burt Reynolds) an older wealthy businessman with dubious connections, weds a young, beautiful blonde, Lily, (Saffron Burrows) and then worries that she will cheat on him. Isn't that a given? Charlie hires a young carpenter, Jimmy (Peter Fascinelli) to help around the house and tempt the beautiful wife. Things go as planned until Lily finds from another source exactly what Charlie has planned. She decides to teach him a lesson and leads Jimmy on. What she didn't plan on is that Jimmy falls in love with her, the beautiful temptress. What Charlie didn't plan on is that the detective he hires to provide evidence isn't all he seems. And, what Jimmy didn't plan on is that he would be in the middle of this big mess, alone.

Charlie winds up in the hospital. Jimmy is on the lam, and Lily is safe at home with the family's lawyer, doing heaven knows what. The mystery is pretty blatant, and all we wonder is who is going to wind up dead or in jail, and who will be blamed? The action is slow, the background music doesn't lead credence to the plot, and I wonder just what was the director thinking. Saffron Burrows is beautiful and sultry. Burt Reynolds is old and his new face doesn't fit him. Peter Fascinelli is young, too young for this this role.
Glad I didn't pay full fare. prisrob

This is a HBO straight-to-video movie but it's a pretty good one. A wealthy man Charlie Le Blanc (Burt Reynolds) doesn't completely trust his wife Lilly so he pays a handsome young man named Jimmy Mulate $10,000 to seduce her and $40,000 if he is successful. Jimmy has to find a mark on her and describe it if he has sex with her but Charlie has the house bugged with high tech equipment so he already knows before Jimmy says a word.

Since I don't want to give up the entire plot I just want to say this should have been on TV. It's not good enough to been at the theater but it's entertaining enough to spend an hour and a half watching at home. If you like a good film noir type movie it's worth your time.

A wealthy Louisiana man plays by Burt Reynolds is concerned that his young and beautiful wife (Saffron Burrows) might be unfaithful. To test her, he pays $10,000 to one of his employees (Peter Facinelli) to seduce her and another $40,000 if he can get her to sleep with him.

The plot twists are generally predictable for the genre, but the performances of three principal actors are good enough for the viewers to sit through the entire movie. Burt is fine, Saffron Burrows is georgous and Peter Facinelli is competent enough in the seduction acts.

The picture is Full Screen only and not bad looking, capturing New Orleans in vivid color and in dark tones in the less colorful neighbourhood. The 5.1 Sound is OK, overall a good rental DVD.

This is a great little underrated thriller. Burt Reynolds gives one of his best performances ever, and Saffron Burrows is delectable. Peter Facinelli is fabulous as the handyman hired to test the faithfulness of Burt Reynolds wife (Burrows). The real star of the movie though is New Orleans - like you've never seen it before - all the back dives and sleazy corners before Katrina hit. All up another terrific little movie from writer director Aussie Bill Bennett.

Burt Reynolds (The Longest Yard, The Dukes Of Hazzard) gets the idea in his head that his sexy ass wife, played by Saffron Burrows (Deep Blue Sea, One Night Stand), isnt worthy, so he hires a construction guy, played by Peter Facinelli (The Big Kahuna, Dancer, Texas Pop 81), and pays him to see if his wife will sleep with him. So, Facinelli goes and gets closer to Burrows and she finally gives into banging him after she hears from some woman about her husbands deal and also, there's a private investigator in the mist watching everything they do. Reynolds gets pissed, threatens Facinelli and winds up getting shot 3 times. Interesting story with the leads Facinelli and Burrows steaming up the screen everytime they have a scene together and Reynolds plays another jackass in this movie but he's good in it. He also voices over the beginning of the movie and end of it. Also starring Mike Starr (Dumb and Dumber, Snake Eyes) and Eric Mabius (Resident Evil, The Crow: Salvation). Enjoy and if not then, that's your problem.

One has to ask when Burt Reynolds is going to hang up his acting shoes, after seeing this, having seen better performances from him of late in the Vision Express commercials. This is TV movie material through and through, and promises much in the way of steamy sex, intrigue and betrayal (should you believe the trailer, and cover sleeve) but is actually little more than bland throughout. Reynolds plays a New Orleans millionaire (with questionable connections) whose young attractive wife (played in sultry fashion by Saffron Burrows) is a constant worry to him, on the grounds of what he sees as her eventual, and inevitable infidelity. Not wanting to wait for this to just happen he offers a young hunk $50,000 to seduce the aforementioned Ms Burrows to "test" her love for her husband. As the wafer thin plot lumbers on, we are treated to a somewhat gratuitous over the table seduction scene, which is then consolidated sometime later by a more "tender" but equally lame staircase episode. The upshot of all of this is that our young stud refuses to do the job for the money , but then finds himself falling for the married woman and can't help himself. This of course unleases the wrath of the now extremely ticked off Mr Reynolds (I mean what did he expect?) who then becomes ... bent on dishing out retribution to the pair of them. What should then have been well set up into a good thriller with the opportunity for several twists and turns, is predictable and the movie goes down from this point at about the same speed as the Titanic. This movie really tries to be a solid psychological thriller, with an adult theme but suffers badly from a weak script, thin storyline and fairly average performances. I kept asking myself, as I'm sure most viewers will WHAT would have happened if Reynolds had left "well enough alone" as his young wife doesn't really shout out for an affair, but that's a moot point I guess. It is not overly BAD, but it isn't that good either. I got the feeling that Reynolds was simply going through the motions to get a paycheck, and Ms Burrows was far more polished and believable in Deep Blue Sea. All this being said, there's a fair amount of material here to keep most people happy who enjoy 10pm movies on the Mystery channel, but don't get your hopes up too high.

It was an interesting movie but not the one I thought I was getting. I thought I was getting the movie Tempted that was made by Lifetime Movie Network which I would still like to buy but I don't think that it is available for purchase.

Why does Burt Reynolds always look like he's about to break into laughter? He's really not a very good actor these days and the severely streched look of his numerous facelifts is a bit disconcerting, although his toupee is a stunner.

That trivia aside, the plot is a good one and the acting is quite good, although the lady in question could use a slightly greater emotional range, considering the intensity of the plot. There are some surprises, too. I'd suggest buying the film so long as you realize that this is not the kind of film you watch over and over again, like, say, "The Postman Always Rings Twice" or "Rebecca" (the original version).

The New Orleans setting of "Tempted" has the wind-chimy flavor and humidity of Kathleen Turner's "Body Heat" from a while back, but lacks the intensity. With Body Heat, it was real passion. With this film, it's real sex -- not the same thing.

It's pretty good but not worth rating above 3 stars.

"Tempted" is notable mostly for the presence of Saffron Burrows as the trophy wife of a New Orleans construction mogul (Burt Reynolds). Burrows cuts the figure of a Greek sculpture; she's a prize all right, but no regular Southern Belle.

The made-for-cable flick has one of those dirty pleasure plots: For reasons unknown, Reynolds' character is certain that Lilly (Burrows) means to cheat on him, so he hires a hunky handyman (Peter Facinelli) to seduce her. We wouldn't have a movie if the seduction wasn't successful. Double crosses and boiled over passions fill the rest of the running time. Burt hangs around for half the movie ...

Everybody's just making some bones on this one, but it's nice to see Burrows turn up in something a little less esoteric. Burt's Burt, and ... if I don't like the way he whispers half his lines like he has a voice to protect. The camerawork is functional, even if it looks like all the blood's been [taken] out of the print.

"Tempted" is a bit muted for a guilty pleasure. You can probably chalk that up to Burrows, who tries a little too hard to earn her paycheck. Facinelli has the right idea -- his half-assed performance not only saves his energy but makes his handyman a convincing dullard.

I like Saffron Burrows, British beauty with undeniable talent, but what is she doing these days? Fighting the 'intelligent' sharks in 'Deep Blue Sea'? Doing cheesy Sci-fi in 'Wing Commander'? Even in the recent blockbuster 'Troy' she was not that great. Then I found this one in the catalogue, and decided to gibe it a chance. But it turns out just another sad case of wasted talent. Well, but I knew it's coming, though, when I saw the name of Ms. Burrows alongside with Burt Reynolds. Oh, no....

'Tempted' is a noir film set in New Orleans, where Burt Reyold's character, local tycoon, thinks that he is fatally ill, and asks a hunky boy Peter Fascinelli to seduce his wife, 'Lily' who is played by Burrows, to test her fidelity. In short, he says, 'sleep with her' (but not for real), and if the kid, struggling law student, succeeds, the latter gets $10,000. But what if the boy really does it? and starts to love her?

Who ever thought of this idea, I don't know, but it is certainly a good one. But what a shame! the director, Bill Bennett ('Kill or Kiss') doubly kills the interesting premise -- first by the incrediele casting of married couple Burt and Saffron (in fact, Burt's character wonders why this beautiful woman married him. So do I, Burt).

And the film is damaged more by the unnecessary subplot about one friend of Fascinelli. Now, unaccountably, 'Tempted' does not stick to the original premise. Instead, another murder plot concerning this friend is suddenly introduced without any relevance to the seduction theme, and though the story gets more and more complicated as it goes on, the thrills are always thin, and its initially steamy feeling soon goes away.

The well-shot film is often beautiful to watch, and the acting is good all in all, even that of Reynolds, but the thrill-less entangled plot is only painful to follow, especially in the second half, and by the time you see the ending, you know why this film remains a 'little seen' one.