FEMME FATALE Thoughts and Reviews

[idealdiscountdude]

Femme Fatale has already been released in numerous European countries and the buzz on the film hasn't been great but yet not completely awful (a la Swept Away) either.

Directed by Brian DePalma, who I consider to be both a great director (Carrie, Carlito's Way, Mission:Impossible) and a disappointing director (The Bonfire Of The Vanities, Snake Eyes, Mission To Mars, the film stars Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and Antonio Banderas.

Here is a small, brief, synopsis of the flick from imdb.com:

A woman tries to straighten out her life, even as her past as a con-woman comes back to haunt her

Femme Fatale opens on Wednesday November 6th.

What are your guys thoughts on the flick?

[Jedi]

Ok. I used to be a fan of Antonio Banderas but lately he's been in a series of awful films (The Body- Original Sins- Ballistic) and his acting was pretty shitty in those movies.
DePalma's Mission To Mars was a big letdown. But he's still a good director. The trilers are just fine but nothing very exciting.
I guess I will check it out in theatres but I don't expect much from it.

[Horror whore]

I think Femme Fatale looks like a fun thriller. I'd love to see it in theaters but I know I won't, I have many other priorities for November (OK, not that many just 8 Mile and Harry Potter a few times). So I'll be seeing it on video...

[Mike]

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005JLCP.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

I actually want to see this movie, it looks like trashy fun. I'm not a fan of Banderas and I don't really care that much for Stamos either, but damn does she look good in this movie. I plan on going to the movies next weekend and I'm either going to see 8 MILE or FEMME FATALE, most likely 8 MILE otherwise both. Since this is almost guaranteed to bomb at the B.O. it was definitely a smart move to release this on a Wednesday, I'm looking forward to seeing Wednesday's numbers, I think FEMME FATALE might be able to make around .300 on its first day of release.

[Mike]

Originally posted by Horror whore
I think Femme Fatale looks like a fun thriller. I'd love to see it in theaters but I know I won't, I have many other priorities for November (OK, not that many just 8 Mile and Harry Potter a few times). So I'll be seeing it on video...

I want to see HARRY POTTER but I don't have anyone to see it with, none of my friends want to see it. I hope I get to see it in theaters because I really enjoyed the first one and I think it would be a fun movie to see in theaters, but I don't know if I'll be able to.

[the movie guy]

Well, I've already seen Femme Fatale by way of an advanced screening a few months back...

FEMME FATALE:

Great direction, camerawork, editing and art direction, decent performances (not great though), VERY sexy, quite slow but still exciting and suspensful... The biggest problem is the script. It gets very laughable in the last 25 minutes (and there are a few bits of corny dialogue throughout). I would slightly recommend this movie because of great direction by DePalma, and roughly 1 hour and 50 minutes of fun (it's about 2:10 in total tough), but most people will be disappointed by the twisty, and cheesy (to me) ending.

B- or 6/10

[Nate6]

Good review, movie guy. Thanks!

I'm not very excited for this film. De Palma just isn't consistent enough, Banderas seems to have been hypnotized by his wife's boobs so much that he has forgotten how to act, and Romjin-Stamos, while extremely hot, is no Meryl Streep. No dice here.

[Narst]

So exactly how much of Rebecca Romaijn Stamos do we see Movie Guy?

[idealdiscountdude]

Ouch!

Here is a really funny review of Femme Fatale by Aaron Lazenby from www.filmcritic.com


Femme Fatale


The only thing worse than a bad movie is a bad movie that takes itself seriously. Not only is your intelligence insulted, but the director is revealed to be a snob as well as a failure. And worst of all, the film is usually boring.

Femme Fatale is an exception to this to this rule. There is no question that Brian De Palma's latest is a steaming pile, and you can smell smug all over what he thinks are clever film techniques (split screens, operatic slow motion, etc). But just before I started throwing stuff at the screen in a show of displeasure, something magical happened—I laughed. And once I started laughing at Femme Fatale, I couldn't stop. The resentment felt for losing two hours of my life to this confused, badly acted, illogical, exploitative jewel heist-cum-meditation on fate was replaced with the giddy revelation that I had become involved in a cinematic experience on par with Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls.

Rebecca Romijn-Stamos plays Laure Ash, a double-crossing bisexual jewel thief who bails on her partners after stealing a fortune in custom-made jewelry from a beautiful attendee of the Cannes film festival -- but not before engaging in some extended, studiously photographed girl-on-girl action in the theater bathroom. On the run from her partners, Laure finds herself hiding in the closet of a woman on the brink of suicide. It just so happens that this woman looks just like her, and has a valid passport and a ticket to the United States for that afternoon. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! During her escape she meets a software millionaire (Peter Coyote), and they instantly fall in love.

Seven years later, Ash finds herself back in Paris against her will with her recently appointed ambassador husband, living a life of privilege and self-imposed isolation. When a photo taken by a down and out paparazzi-turned-artist-turned-paparazzi (Antonio Banderas) is plastered all over Paris (and why not, aren't we all fascinated by the lives of ambassadors' wives?) Ash finds her new life in jeopardy as her one-time jewel thief partners close in to collect on unpaid debts. So begins a series of incomprehensible chases, blackmails, kidnappings, etc. that culminates in the use of one of the most terrible and artificial narrative devices in the history of storytelling. Think Bobby Ewing and you'll get the idea.

Femme Fatale freely careens between clichéd and absurd. Romijn-Stamos delivers inanities like "I'm a bad girl, a really bad girl" with an appropriate absence of fire and authenticity. It is difficult for anyone to nonchalantly deliver lines like "You don't have to lick my ass; just fuck me," but listening to Romijn-Stamos force such dreck through cheesecloth-thin acting talent makes you long for her silent performance in X-Men.

Commercials for Femme Fatale call De Palma "The master of the erotic thriller." He's a master all right. Allowing his camera to linger on Romijn-Stamos's body to an embarrassing degree, all eroticism destroyed by the nearly audible sound of the director masturbating just off-screen. The results are not sexy, just distasteful -- like getting turned by the thought of Gina Gershon eating dog food.

But this all culminates into such a bad, self-satisfied film that you can't help but marvel, and laugh, at it. Antonio Banderas appears to understand what a crap movie this is, and it looks like he is having fun along the way. He tries on an effeminate lisp and limp wrist for what would be an offensive gay stereotype if he didn't play it with such abandon. Banderas doesn't attempt to give a career-making performance like Romijn-Stamos appears to be. He's trying to amuse himself until this train wreck of a film comes to a halt. Just like the audience.

Phlegm fatale.

[the movie guy]

Originally posted by Narst
So exactly how much of Rebecca Romaijn Stamos do we see Movie Guy?

I don't believe you ever (fully) see her boobs, but trust me, it's very sexy regardless. She has lesbian "sex", does two stripteases and she has crazy sex with Antonio (which might have been cut down a bit for an R).

[the movie guy]

That review above is way too harsh in my opinion. Yes, the story is silly by the end, but I enjoyed it until the 1:50 mark (despite a few bits of corny dialogue throughout, like the reviewer mentioned), like I said before. Also, I don't think the camera techniques DePalma does are "smug", I thought they were very cool. Some of you people may dislike it (or possibly like it) a lot more than me, but I suggest that people at least give it a chance and check it out, and not be turned off by some guy's too harsh review. (Or maybe my revew is too kind. Who knows.)

[Scarface98.9]

The movie looks kind've ok, but DePalma is an overrated director IMO. And some of the still pictures of Stamos actually make her look repulsive

[idealdiscountdude]

Femme Fatale opens tommorow in approx. 1000+ screens.

Here are a few stills from the film:

This one here is sexy......

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0280665/PL57-9A.jpg

Rebecca Romjin Stamos is a major babe, but is it just me or doesn't she look like a mannequin in this pic?

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0280665/PL111-14A.jpg

[bluegopher]

I will see this tomorrow for sure. Can't wait!

[Mike]

Originally posted by idealdiscountdude
Rebecca Romjin Stamos is a major babe, but is it just me or doesn't she look like a mannequin in this pic?

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0280665/PL111-14A.jpg

Actually, she looks like a man in that picture - now that's scary... She's attractive, but that is not a good picture of her...

[idealdiscountdude]

Femme Fatale is getting some very diverse reviews.

EOnline.com's Anderson Cooper gave the flick an F however on the total flipside, Roger Ebert gave the film **** stars! His highest review!

[max]

I've seen and enjoyed it. It's vintage De Palma, which means you'll either love it or hate it. It's all style, no substance. And De Palma, at his best, is proof that style is substance enough. There were a few walkouts during my advanced screening, but the smart ones who stuck it out were rewarded with one of the year's most inventive and visually breathtaking movies (Rebecca Romijn Stamos does a striptease worth a trip to the nearest Nudie Bar). I give it a 7/10.

[Scarface98.9]

Originally posted by idealdiscountdude


http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0280665/PL111-14A.jpg
That's the dyke pic I was talking about before that contributes to me not wanting to see it

[Ed]

I know i'm gonna see it, even if the reviews are bad. :rolleyes:

[Mike]

Originally posted by idealdiscountdude
Femme Fatale is getting some very diverse reviews.

EOnline.com's Anderson Cooper gave the flick an F however on the total flipside, Roger Ebert gave the film **** stars! His highest review!

WOW, Ebert gave it **** stars! Then again, he usually does like sexy movies, especially ones with lesbian sex scenes...

[bluegopher]

Ebert is a well-respected critic who I trust more than any other critic out there. If he likes a movie, I'll see it. Plus, I watch his show religiously every weekend. For those of you who didn't know, the other lesbian film Mike was talking about was a film I really enjoyed titled Mulholland Dr., or the film that first made Naomi Watts known to Hollywood studios.

[Mike]

Originally posted by bluegopher
Ebert is a well-respected critic who I trust more than any other critic out there. If he likes a movie, I'll see it. Plus, I watch his show religiously every weekend. For those of you who didn't know, the other lesbian film Mike was talking about was a film I really enjoyed titled Mulholland Dr., or the film that first made Naomi Watts known to Hollywood studios.

He's enjoyed Mulholland Drive, Wild Things, Lost & Delirious, Femme Fatale, and many more... I've enjoyed all of those movies too, except Femme Fatale which I haven't seen yet...

[bluegopher]

I highly recommend that you see this movie. It is much more than a run of the mill erotic thriller with multiple plot twists and an overall entertaining film. I hope that people see this so it doesn't bomb like it will if people don't give it a chance. My full review is below:

Femme Fatale:

Dark, complex, and most of all, erotic, Femme Fatale marks a fine return to form for director Brian DePalma. The plot of the film surrounds the secretive life of a beautiful criminal (Rebecca Romijn Stamos) who wants to reform her life and has much trouble escaping her former life of crime. The film costars Antonio Banderas, Peter Coyote, Gregg Henry, Sandrine Bonnaire, and Jean Reno. As I mentioned, the film is directed by Brian DePalma (Snake Eyes, Mission to Mars). DePalma also scripted Femme Fatale.

Once revered among many, director Brian DePalma has been on a downward spiral for the last couple years now starting with the noir misstep Snake Eyes and continuing with the space bore Mission to Mars. Now he returns to his roots in erotic thrillers with Femme Fatale, a worthy companion to earlier DePalma films Body Double and Dressed to Kill. In fact, Femme Fatale surpasses the two previous thrillers in pacing and flashy photography.

The film smartly decides against dwelling on the more unbelievable portions of the story by moving everything along at a breakneck pace. Therefore, the complexity doesn't overwhelm the viewer. The aforementioned flashy cinematography aids the glamorous tone of the film. The acting by Stamos is surprisingly solid in the lead role. She isn’t nearly as stiff and monotone as she has been in the past and certainly fulfills the sexy quotient. Antonio Banderas conversely, seems bored most of the time and therefore doesn’t impress. His recent trend of acting bored in his films (Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever included) has made him much less of an impressive acting talent than he once used to be. Femme Fatale is also excessively gratuitous in its sex scenes at times, especially the sex scene that occurs within the film's opening moments. But there are other times where the film is erotic without going overboard.

The film mimics in many ways the story of last year's Mulholland Dr. (The lesbian element is even copied) in ways that I can't describe without giving away too much. The film also tends to become overly violent in some scenes that, along with the graphic sexual nature of the film, make Femme Fatale a very adult picture that even some adults are likely to find too graphic for their tastes. Thankfully, the film isn’t as dull and boring as last year’s Original Sin, which also starred Banderas, with Angelina Jolie as his love interest.

Overall, Femme Fatale is recommended to those that can handle a complex and engaging film that is extremely violent and sexual in nature. Don't bring your kids to this one.

85 out of 100.

[Mike]

Very nice review, but hopefully your mention of it being similar to Mulholland Drive isn't too big of a spoiler because I want to be surprised. Of course I had already read in a review today that it has a lot in common with Mulholland Drive so I guess it's not too big of a deal. So was the twist ending a mindfuck one or something? Does it make sense? Try and answer those questions without giving away too much... Thanks... :)

[idealdiscountdude]

Here is a very negative review from Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly (www.ew.com):

In Femme Fatale, Brian De Palma's latest exercise in candified, gliding-camera incoherence, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos appears in a great many different guises, with countless sexy hairstyles and accents. First, she's a lesbian-chic mannequin blonde, then a shaggy-maned neurotic, then a Lana Turner vamp in kerchief and sunglasses, then a bent and wizened Ukrainian grandmother. (Okay, I made that one up.) About all that these characters have in common is Romijn-Stamos' lips, which is part of the filmmaker's design, his way of demonstrating that a devious woman's identity is as malleable as her dye job. That's an idea that De Palma, by now, has ''borrowed'' from ''Vertigo'' more times than he hasn't, yet it is taken to such preposterous extremes in ''Femme Fatale'' that he doesn't even seem to be playing Hitchcock anymore. He's playing dress-up Barbie.

If you look hard, you can make out a story in ''Femme Fatale,'' but it has nothing to do with the senseless pileup of jewel thievery, shutterbug voyeurism, and leggy sex bombs so shallow and bad they seem to have come out of a 1978 copy of Hustler magazine. No, the story the movie tells is of Brian De Palma's addiction to the junk-calorie suspense tropes that have all but ruined his career. Once good (''Scarface''), even great (''Carrie''), he has become a director content to let his camera go through the motions.

EW Grade: F


I must say that critics are either really loving it (Ebert) or really hating it (E!Online, EW) and of course the few in between who think that its ok.

[dh1989]

Originally posted by idealdiscountdude
Brian De Palma's latest exercise in candified, gliding-camera incoherence


That, in my opinion, perfectly describes De Palma. He loves his effects, stylish shots, etc, but he seems to foret that a great film has a good core story with interesting characters, without that De Palma is wasting studio's money trying to make a rotten fish look like gold. He lays on the gloss, but forgets to fill up the baloon beforehand, if you get me.

P.S. I am shocked that I actually agreed with an EW review. I stopped reading them when they gave O Brother, Where Art Thou? an "F", but this Owen guy seems to understand the trick De Palma wants to use to trick his audience.

[bluegopher]

Originally posted by Mike
Very nice review, but hopefully your mention of it being similar to Mulholland Drive isn't too big of a spoiler because I want to be surprised. Of course I had already read in a review today that it has a lot in common with Mulholland Drive so I guess it's not too big of a deal. So was the twist ending a mindfuck one or something? Does it make sense? Try and answer those questions without giving away too much... Thanks... :)

*****SPOILERS*****











The ending is most certainly a mindfuck one with a twist towards the end of the film turning everything that happened on its head.

[bluegopher]

You should see this movie if you're into thrillers because it's a great example of such a film. It doesn't deserve to bomb.

[Buck Turgidson]

Originally posted by Mike
He's enjoyed Mulholland Drive, Wild Things, Lost & Delirious, Femme Fatale, and many more... I've enjoyed all of those movies too, except Femme Fatale which I haven't seen yet...

Roger gave Lost and Delirious one of the most intelligent and incisive written reviews I've ever read. He was right about it, but it's a wonderful review even if you don't agree with it.

[Buck Turgidson]

Originally posted by idealdiscountdude
It is difficult for anyone to nonchalantly deliver lines like "You don't have to lick my ass; just fuck me," but listening to Romijn-Stamos force such dreck through cheesecloth-thin acting talent makes you long for her silent performance in X-Men.



As if she could stop me... :p

[Buck Turgidson]

Fuckin' double post... :mad:

[Fergus]

Femme Fatale

I really think critics were being a bunch of hardasses about the movie, it wasn't that bad at all. Brian De Palma has officially risen from his pit of ineptness. I almost had no faith in him at all, but he's really a good filmmaker. I think he needs to brush up on screenwriting, but the style is all there. Aside from some not so great performances from Stamos and Banderas, seeing as how this is a director's movie, it really isn't much of a bother. The best scenes were the suspenseful first 20 minutes or so, and the final 20 minutes, but those last minutes wouldn't have worked as well if the midsection was missing. Great direction, and good idea, but I can't think of what De Palma was going for other than an entertaining movie, which it was, nothing too deep.

7/10 (might be higher.....not sure)

[bluegopher]

Mike, have you seen it yet? If so, what did you think?

[Puck Bond]

Femme Fatale is an enjoyable sleak, sexy crime thriller that is more style over substance. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos plays Laure Ash who attempts an audacious heist of diamonds off the outfit of a stunning model durng the Cannes Film Festival. This opening scene is great, taut, tense, exciting and unbelielvably hot! It gets the film off to a flying start. After Laure screws over her partners, she escapes to America for 7 years and comes back to France as the mysterious, reclusive wife of the U.S. ambassador. Antonio Banderas plays Nicholas Bardot a photographer and former member of the papparazzi who is assigned to get a photo of the new woman. This leads him into a world of deciet, lust and intrigue...Laure also is planning to con her rich husband. Beyond that you really hve to see yourself. Now Rebecca Romijn-Stamos is not a good actress and it shows here, but she has one hell of a body! There isn't realy any chemistry between her and Banderas. That really doesn't matter because this film is all style...directed by Brian DePalma known for his erotic thrillers he uses plenty of cool tricks like split-screens and ever-changing different points of view. The film does have some crazy twists towards the end. Some might leave a little confused and still having questions left unanswered. Overall, Femme Fatale is a decent sexy thriller with lots of style, sexy scenes and an intriguing, twisting story.