Film Review: Malice (1993)

Certain films fail not because their makers invest too little, but because they invest too much effort. Although it turns out be not bad, but merely underwhelming film, this is what happened to Malice, 1993 thriller directed by Harold Becker.

The plot is set in small New England’s town where Andy Safian (played by Bill Pullman), assistant dean at women’s college, lives with his young and beautiful wife Tracy (played by Nicole Kidman). They have purchased big Victorian house that they in which they would like to raise children, but the cost of renovating is quite high, so they must find another source of income. Solution of that problem might be found in Dr. Jed Hill (played by Alec Baldwin), young, charismatic, talented and popular surgeon who has just taken job in local hospital. Andy has actually known Jed in high school, so two of them quickly become friends. Jed takes an offer to rent one of the rooms in Safians’ house and thus help couple’s finances, although Tracy apparently isn’t happy with the arrangement. Andy, however, has more serious matters to worry about because vicious rapist is attacking women in the area and Andy even briefly becomes one of the suspect. In the meantime, Tracy starts experiencing abdominal pains and is afterwards brought to Jed’s operating table. Jed manages to save her life, but the operation doesn’t go without long term consequences that would break Safians’ marriage and also lead to potentially messy court proceedings.

Script for Malice was written by Scott Frank and Aaron Sorkin, the latter at the time known as the author of highly regarded drama A Few Good Men and, later, as creator of The West Wing, long-running television series. However, the finished film looks like strange attempt to merge some of major trends of 1990s Hollywood, especially in the area of thriller genre. Malice, at least in the beginning, looks like a typical piece about seemingly innocuous person who is supposed to be source of safety (in this case a physician), but who actually turns out to be evil sociopath intending to life of middle class family. This plot thread goes hand in hand with some elements of film noir or classic Hitchcockian thrillers, but there is also a plot dealing with serial killers. Finally, Malice also tries to exploit popularity of erotic thrillers by adding few sex scenes (apparently brought to the screen against wishes of Sorkin, who was good friend of Tom Cruise and didn’t want to humiliate him by having his wife naked on the screen). All those elements, however, don’t mix very well, especially in the beginning and because of numerous red herrings and “clever” plot twists that are likely to confuse audience and make film longer than it should be. Direction by Harold Becker is adequate but unremarkable, and same thing can be said about cinematography by Gordon Willis and music score by veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith. Many flaws of Malice are compensated by good work from the cast. Alec Baldwin shines as charismatic but arrogant character who, despite good looks, hardly hides his bad side (like in the role he played in Miami Blues few years earlier). Nicole Kidman is very good in complex role and same can be said for Pullman who plays the most ordinary of the film’s major characters. Even the supporting cast does good job, which includes veterans like George C. Scott and Anne Banncroft (the latter in “Oscar”-grabbing performance as old alcoholic woman) and even some young talent like Gwyneth Paltrow as ill-fated student. Malice is, despite not living to its potential, generally satisfying viewing experience, but it could be best recommended to audience that wants unpretentious entertainment and whose expectations aren’t too high.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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