REVIEW:
A movie that works in large part because of how simple it is, this one is about the corruption of youth, as a terrible person takes advantage of teens in order to get them to kill her husband. That person is Suzanne Stone, played by Nicole Kidman in her breakout performance. She was in other things before this (Far and Away, Days of Thunder,) but this is the movie that made her a household name. And rightly so because she is fantastic here.
Suzanne is a very simple-minded, stuck up character who is all about the superficial and making herself happy at all costs. She marries Larry Maretto (Matt Dylan,) a nice guy bartender who is super popular and who everyone in town loves. And almost instantly Suzanne starts to regret it. Larry starts doing things that turn her off, and he expresses interest in having kids, which is the last thing Suzanne wants. So instead of divorcing him, she seduces some local teenagers into following her evil plan.
Watching this character work and manipulate others is a pretty wild ride. It’s funny seeing how many references and ideas Suzanne does not get (like a scene where a professor tells her a story about how a woman got a job by writing a certain letter, and Suzanna just cannot follow it at all.) But it’s also scary seeing how easily she gets these kids to do her bidding for her. This movie is quick paced and thrilling and a pretty intense black comedy. It also features some of the very first performances by both Joaquin Phoenix and Casey Affleck. And both have significant roles here. Pretty cool stuff.